Yusuf Dadoo

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Yusuf Dadoo
Born(1909-09-05)5 September 1909
Krugersdorp, West Rand,
Edinburgh University
Known forAnti-apartheid movement
Political partySouth African Indian Congress
South African Communist Party

Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo

Treason Trial in 1956. His last days were spent in exile in London, where he is buried at Highgate Cemetery; a few metres away from the Tomb of Karl Marx
.

Early life

Yusuf was born on 5 September 1909 in

matriculation level.[4]

University in London and Edinburgh

At the age of eighteen, having completed secondary education, Yusuf returned to Krugersdorp; where his father insisted that he help with running his business, despite Yusuf's desire to study law.

rise of the Labour Party at the 1929 UK general election, he began to read Marxist literature,[2] joined the Independent Labour Party,[4] and delivered Communist speeches at the Edinburgh speakers' corner.[3][4] He also befriended fellow student and Indian South African Monty Naicker. In 1936, Dadoo was awarded his medical degree, LRCPS, and returned to South Africa resolved to revitalise the struggle against racial discrimination there.[4]

Return to South Africa and revitalisation of the struggle

Shortly after his return home, Yusuf bought a house and set up a medical practice in

moderates reluctant to engage in passive resistance against the government.[5] In 1938, Yusuf became a founding member and the secretary of the Non-European United Front (NEUF).[2]
In 1939, along with both younger members and veterans of Gandhi's campaigns, he founded a nationalist bloc within the TIC, with the goal of commencing a passive resistance campaign against the recently passed Asiatic Land Tenure Act.[5] This view rapidly gained in popularity, and despite the misgivings of its leadership, the TIC set the date of 1 August 1939 for the commencement of passive resistance.[5] At the time, neither the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) nor the South African Indian Congress (SAIC) officially endorsed the campaign, despite popular support among Indians.[5] The campaign was postponed, however, at the personal request of Gandhi,[5] leaving Yusuf to join the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), and focus on anti-war activism with the outbreak of World War II.[2]

In 1941, the German invasion of the Soviet Union prompted the CPSA to drop its opposition to participation in the war, and change to a position of support for what it saw as a "people's war".[2] Inspired by the exploits of the Red Army in the defence of the Soviet Union, non-European protest movements in South Africa became more militant.[2] By the end of the war, the African National Congress was dominated by leaders such as Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela, while the TIC and NIC were dominated by Yusuf Dadoo and Monty Naicker, respectively.[2] In 1946, Yusuf and Monty led the Indian Passive Resistance Campaign against the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Bill, which continued until 1948 but did not succeed in having any of the legislation it opposed repealed.[4] In 1947, the two, along with Alfred Bitini Xuma signed the "three doctors pact" of cooperation between the ANC, TIC and NIC, calling for the right to vote, freedom of movement, education and equal opportunity for all non-European South Africans.[6]

Apartheid and resistance

In 1908, the

Suppression of Communism Bill to ban the South African Communist Party, causing the CPSA to pre-emptively disband and go underground.[2] In 1950, Yusuf was elected president of the SAIC, which promptly joined with the ANC in organising a defiance campaign against unjust laws.[2] Yusuf was the deputy chair of the planning council, headed by Walter Sisulu, and the two were mainly responsible for the report around which the campaign was organised.[2]

By 1952, the government responded to the Defiance Campaign by introducing more oppressive legislation. Dadoo was banned from attending all gatherings and ordered to resign from the SAIC and the Defiance Campaign planning committee.[4] In 1953, Dadoo and others secretly reconstituted the CPSA as the South African Communist Party (SACP), with Yusuf serving as chairman of the central committee.[4] That same year, Yusuf was further banned from participating in fifteen protest organisations.[4] Under these bans, he was unable to openly participate on the Congress Alliance and the writing of the Freedom Charter, although he continued to be consulted in secret, his advice being greatly respected.[2] In 1957, he was explicitly banned from speaking to more than one person at a time.[4]

Exile and party chairmanship

In 1960, the

Sharpeville Massacre prompted the government to declare a state of national emergency
and issue warrants for the arrest of most known leaders of protest organisations. Dadoo evaded arrest and operated underground for several months, until the SACP, in consultation with the SAIC, decided to smuggle him out of the country to act as an international spokesperson for the struggle. Dadoo strongly disagreed with the idea, but was overruled, and finally agreed to go into exile in London.

In 1972, the then-chairman of the SACP, J. B. Marks, died, and Dadoo was unanimously elected in his place.[2] He continued in this role, as chairman in exile, until his death.

Death

Grave of Yusuf Dadoo
Dadoo's grave is situated between that of Saad Saadi Ali (left) and his wife (right)

Dadoo died of prostate cancer on 19 September 1983.[4] Prior to his death, he attempted to arrange with Joe Slovo to have his body smuggled to South Africa for burial as an act of defiance, but this plan failed.[4] Instead, he was given a Muslim burial (at his behest) and interred at Highgate Cemetery alongside fellow Iraqi Communist Muslim activist Saad Saadi Ali, and a few metres away from the grave of Karl Marx.[2][4] His dying words were "You must never give up, You must fight to the end."[4]

Grave of Karl Marx. Yusuf Dadoo's grave is about five metres away to the left.

Legacy

Condolences were sent by communist and socialist leaders worldwide, as well as from other anti-apartheid activist leaders. In South Africa, however, a meeting and two pamphlets paying him tribute were immediately banned.[4]

After the 1994 general election and the downfall of Apartheid, Dr Dadoo came to be considered a national hero. In Krugersdorp, a primary school and a hospital were named after him.

Centenary celebrations for Dr Dadoo were held in 2009 at the University of Johannesburg.[7] In Nelson Mandela's message to the celebrations, he called Dadoo "one of the giants of our country's struggle for freedom", and "[one of] the founders of a democratic South Africa".[8]

References

  1. ^ "Chris Hani and Dr Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo". www.durban.gov.za. Archived from the original on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Pahad, Essop (1979). "A Proud History of Struggle". The African Communist (78). South African Communist Party. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-77008-156-7
    .
  4. ^
    University of Witwatersrand
    .
  5. ^ a b c d e Pahad, Essop (1972). The Development of Indian Political Movements in South Africa, 1924–1946 (D.Phil. thesis). University of Sussex.
  6. ^ Xuma, Alfred; Naicker, Monty; Dadoo, Yusuf (1947), Joint Declaration of Cooperation, retrieved 20 June 2011
  7. ^ "Blade Nzimande honours Yusuf Dadoo" (Press release). University of Johannesburg. 1 September 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  8. ^ Mandela, Nelson (5 September 2009). Message to the Dadoo Centenary Celebrations (Speech). Yusuf Dadoo Centenary Celebrations. University of Johannesburg. Retrieved 22 June 2011.

External links

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