Ruth First and Joe Slovo were South African freedom fighters who were at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid. They settled in London in 1964 following First’s imprisonment by the South African regime and lived at 13 Lyme Street in Camden from 1966 until 1978. First and Slovo continued their activism in London and turned number 13 into a meeting place for an international group of exiles and their supporters. The plaque was unveiled in 2003 by Nelson Mandela, the couple’s close friend and comrade.

SOUTH AFRICAN ACTIVISM AND IMPRISONMENT

First and Slovo met at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg – where their fellow students included Nelson Mandela – and married in 1949. In the years that followed, both First and Slovo became prominent white activists in the Defiance Campaign, and helped to develop the Freedom Charter of the African National Congress (ANC). This began with the words ‘South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white’.

In 1956, the couple were charged with high treason, together with Mandela and over 150 others. Although the charges were later dropped, the persecution of the South African opposition intensified. Slovo turned to work underground while First – previously a reporter for The Guardian – continued her journalism and edited the radical journal Fighting Talk. In 1963 First was detained in prison, an experience which almost drove her suicide.

LONDON BASE

When she was released First fled to England, where the account of her imprisonment, 117 Days (1965), gained wide public attention. From July 1966 to the end of 1978, the Slovos made 13 Lyme Street their base, while Ruth’s parents – Julius and ‘Tilly’ First – lived in a separate basement flat. During these 12 critical years First gave public speeches against apartheid and took part in campaigns for the ANC and Anti-Apartheid Movement. She also taught at Manchester and Durham Universities and wrote works such as The Barrel of a Gun: Political Power in Africa (1970) and Olive Schreiner (1980). The sound of her typewriter is said to have been heard day and night. Slovo, meanwhile, worked full-time for the ANC.

TRAGEDY AND PEACE

By the late 1970s, the tide was turning against the repressive South African regime. The Slovos were keen to return to Africa and in 1978 settled in Maputo, Mozambique, where Ruth held a research post at the Eduardo Mondlane University.

But in 1982, tragedy struck. First was murdered by a letter bomb sent by agents of the South African government. Mourning services were held throughout South Africa, and her funeral was attended by members of parliament and ambassadors from 34 countries.

First’s murder strengthened Slovo’s determination to oppose the regime that had killed her and so many others. During the 1980s, he operated mainly from Lusaka and, returning to South Africa in 1990, was greeted with adulation by his supporters. He lived to play a vital role in the negotiations that brought about the peaceful transfer of power in South Africa, forming part of the ANC’s Mandela-led negotiating team that made the historic settlement with the National Party. After the first democratic elections in 1994, President Mandela appointed Slovo Minister of Housing, a post he retained until his death from cancer in 1995.