African Communist, 1959 - 1994

The SACP did not publicly announce its existence until the state of emergency was declared by the government after the police massacres of Sharpeville and Langa in 1960. The delay had been due to fears amongst some in the SACP leadership that a premature announcement might prejudice work in the liberation movement as a whole. But growing pressure from the rank and file of the SACP for a more structured system of propagating communist policies led to the publication in October 1959 of The African Communist in cyclostyled quarto form. Under the heading "This Magazine" the journal stated: "This magazine, 'The African Communist', has been started by a group of Marxist-Leninists in Africa, to defend and spread the inspiring and liberating ideas of Communism in our great Continent, and to apply the brilliant scientific method of Marxism to the solution of its problems. It is being produced in conditions of great difficulty and danger. Nevertheless we mean to go on publishing it, because we know that Africa needs Communist thought, as dry and thirsty soil needs rain."