Remembering Ruth: the voice, the face, the work and the silence

This article begins by evoking Ruth First's influence on South Africa, and later in Mozambique, in compelling personal terms. Ruth First was an important commentator on the Alexandra Bus Boycott of 1957, in which the author participated. Some 20 years later, the author was recruited by First to the CEA, where he worked with Ruth First and others on labour migration, forced labour and on the newly established communal villages and agricultural producer cooperatives. First, although heavily involved in administration, nevertheless managed to find time for fieldwork of this kind. The author contributed to ongoing fieldwork at the CEA, and his results were fed into the teaching through his contribution of interviews, work songs and other material for the Mozambican Miner, later published as Black Gold. Examples are given of the directness of Ruth's criticisms, and of her sympathy for ordinary Mozambicans. The article concludes with recollections of responses made to the author on Ruth's death.