ROUX, Edward Rudolph (1903-1966)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0101 ICS 67
Held at	: Institute of Commonwealth Studies   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/resources/library ›
Full title	: ROUX, Edward Rudolph (1903-1966)
Date(s)	: 1927-1964
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 file
Name of creator(s)	: Roux | Edward Rudolph | 1903-1966 | botanist and political activist
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Edward Roux was born in the northern Transvaal, South Africa, in 1903, the son of an English mother and an Afrikaner father. He grew up in Johannesburg, where his father opened a pharmacy in 1907. Roux's father was a free-thinker and Roux, while still a student, helped found the Young Communists League in 1921. In 1923 he joined the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA). After completing his first degree at the University of the Witwatersrand he was awarded a scholarship to Cambridge University, where he spent the years 1926-1929 completing a PhD and carrying out research on plant physiology. In 1928 he visited Moscow as a South African delegate to the 6th Congress of the Communist International. He returned to South Africa in 1929, and by 1930 was engaged on full-time political work as editor of 'Umsebnzi', the Communist weekly. He remained active until 1935 when he was removed from the party's political bureau for aleged right wing sympathies. He left the CPSA in 1936 and took no direct part in politics for the next 20 years. He returned to his academic career and in 1945 he joined the faculty of the University of the Witwatersrand, where he became professor of botany in 1962. In 1957 he became an active member of the multiracial Liberal Party of South Africa. Although 'named' as a former member of the CPSA in 1950 he was not singled out for persecution by the Nationalist government until the early 1960s. In 1963 he was forced to resign from the Liberal Party under new ruled banning 'named' persons, and in 1964 he was issued a full array of banning orders, prohibiting him from teaching, publishing, attending gatherings, being quoted, or leaving Johannesburg. He died in 1966.
Publications S P Banting - A Political Biography, 1944; Longer than Rope [the first major history of African nationalism in South Africa], 1948, numerous articles and pamphlets. His autobiography Rebel Pity: The Life of Eddie Roux was written with his wife Winifred, and published posthumously in 1970.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Photocopies of papers of Edward Rudolph Roux relating to the Communist Party of South Africa, 1922-1964; comprising report of Cambridge University Labour Club on 'Subject Races within the Empire', 1927; correspondence with Clements Kadalie and T W Thibedi on splits in the CPSA, 1927-1929, correspondence with Pamela O'Neill on biography of Kadalie, 1962-1964 and letter from Tshekedi Khama to Roux on his relations with Seretse Khama, and native opinion of Seretse Khama's marriage to Ruth Williams, 1950.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Chronological

Conditions governing access:

Open although advance notice should be given. Access to individual items may be restricted under the Data Protection Act or the Freedom of Information Act.

Conditions governing reproduction:

A photocopying service is available, at the discretion of the Library staff. Copies are supplied solely for research or private study. Requests to publish, or to quote from, original material should be submitted to the Information Resources Manager.

Finding aids:

Catalogued to item level (see link to repository catalogue).

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The copies were given to N Hyman by Mrs W Roux, 1971.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The ICS holds a large number of collections relating to South African politics, including African National Congress (ICS 1), Mary Benson (ICS 6), Ruth First (ICS 117), Marion Friedmann (ICS 20), Ruth Hayman (ICS 30)Baruch Hirson (ICS 32), Mandela Trials papers (ICS 52), Josie Palmer (ICS 57), South African Institute of Race Relations (ICS 95), University of Cape Town (ICS 81-82), University of Transkei (ICS 19).

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Alan Kucia as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

Rules or conventions:
General International Standard Archival Description ISAD(G), 2nd Edition 2000. National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Oct 2001