This documentary history traces the relationship between socialist currents and the national liberation movement from the 1940s, through decades of increasing repression and illegality, culminating in the transition to armed struggle in the early 1960s. The collection presents varied approaches to the national question, the agrarian question, the armed struggle and to the building of political alliances.

This is the second volume of South Africa's Radical Tradition, edited by Allison Drew, a political scientist from the University of York, U.K.

"This collection forms a vital part of South African history .... There can be no doubt as to the influential nature of these groups and individuals on a wide spectrum of South Africans." Anthony W Marx, Columbia University.