UMKONTO WE THE ROAD TO THE LEFT - Bruno Mtolo

Published by Drakensberg Press Limited, 1966

Hardcover with dustjacket in great condition.

This is a book by a Zulu who became a Communist for the love of his people, and who turned against the Communists for the same reason. Bruno Mtolo tells a simple story, but a terrible story - the story of a happy boy who went to night school to better himself, and who learnt, instead, to hate the white man; the story of a hospital worker who joined the trade union movement to fight for the well-being of his people, and found, too late, that they were being exploited by the very leaders who pretended to be helping them; the story, also, of a dangerous saboteur, hero-worshipped by the ordinary members of "Umkonto we Sizwe", who had to continue with subversive attacks against the white government whilst he knew full well that "the struggle of the masses" was nothing more than a sham. Inevitably Bruno Mtolo has been called a traitor to his people, the warrior Zulu people of South Africa of whom he is so proud. His book fascinates us, not only because he was "Mr. X", the sensational State witness of the famous Rivonia trial in which the extent of the Communist conspiracy in South Africa was first revealed, but because it gives the lie to the accusation of treason. Bruno Mtolo had a chance, not given to many, of turning back on the road to the left. He is now looking for the way out of the ugly dilemma in which the black man and the white man of South Africa find themselves. His political ideas may be brushed aside as "naive"; his story his too significant to be ignored. A rare book due it's factual nature as opposed to the usual received narrative about the ANC in exile.

Please see photos as they form part of the description.