“The ANC would use the apartheid government’s racism against them, recruiting young white foreigners to pose as tourists, to smuggle vital resources into the country & carry out propaganda events.”
By Gawain Little, GFTU General Secretary
“He said it would involve going to South Africa and conducting a ‘propaganda event’ in places where lots of Black workers would be, via a small explosive set in the bottom of a bucket, which would then release leaflets high into the air… If caught, it would mean considerable time in prison and… torture of one sort or another.”
These are the words of Sean Hosey from the forthcoming multi award winning independent film London Recruits. Sean was one of an estimated 60+ young people recruited in London from the mid-1960s to carry out secret missions on behalf of the ANC in apartheid South Africa.
They were recruited at a time when the ANC’s organisation inside the country had been smashed and the leadership of the liberation movement, including Oliver Tambo the ANC President in exile, had determined a daring strategy to rebuild confidence and organisation under conditions of apartheid brutality.
The ANC would use the apartheid government’s racism against them, recruiting young white foreigners to pose as tourists, honeymooning couples even, to smuggle vital resources into the country and carry out propaganda events. These included the ‘bucket devices’ referred to above, which distributed leaflets anonymously in crowded areas, announcing the survival of the ANC and recruiting people to the struggle.
Directed by the ANC and its armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), these missions carried on for decades, providing a crucial support to the ANC as it rebuilt in-country, developed a worldwide solidarity movement and eventually defeated apartheid in South Africa.
As Steve Marsling, another of the recruits says, “We are very clear. The South African people won their own liberation. We provided solidarity in their struggle, and we were proud to do so.”
Steve, who had never even been on a plane before he was sent to South Africa with a false-bottomed suitcase, leaflets and explosives, features in some of the many gripping moments of the film, including one point where he has some trouble with the timer on his explosives…
The purpose of the film, which builds on the book bringing together the personal recollections of the recruits, edited by Ken Keable, and the education resource produced by Manifesto Press and the National Education Union, is to ensure that this inspiring story of ordinary people who were motivated by international solidarity and did extraordinary things, is passed on to a younger generation.
At a time when we face an increase in racism in our society and far-right violence on our streets, it is the duty of the trade union movement to stand up and show our opposition to all forms of racism and discrimination. This story of people who travelled across the world to make their contribution to bringing down a racist system of government, does precisely that.
At the same time, as the film’s director Gordon Main acknowledges, there are huge parallels between the apartheid system in South Africa and the occupation and imposition of an apartheid system in Palestine. The film reiterates Nelson Mandela’s words that, “we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
These are just some of the reasons why the General Federation of Trade Unions is proud to be supporting a fringe meeting at this year’s TUC with the director of the film and the London Recruits themselves talking about the importance of this story. It is also why we are proud to be supporting the People’s Release of the film later this year.
- Gawain Little is General Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions.
- Support the People’s Release of the film by arranging a showing at www.bit.ly/LRPeoplesRelease and support the People’s Release of the film with a donation (£65,000 still to raise) at www.bit.ly/LondonRecruitsFilmFund
- The London Recruits fringe meeting, organised by the Morning Star, Manifesto Press and the General Federation of Trade Unions takes place at TUC Congress in Brighton on Monday 9th September 8:45pm-10pm at the Friend’s Meeting House, Ship Street, BN1 1AF.
