The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

George Padmore in London, and wrote to him asking his advice on publishing. By
providing “a background to and an analysis of the political awakening of the people”,
Tabata suggested that a study of this nature had not been written before. There was little
hope of finding a publisher in South Africa, and with the AAC named as publisher,
there was every chance that it might be affected by repressive legislation and banned.
Tabata appealed to Padmore’s political comradeship and asked him to arrange for the
book’s publication in Britain or the US, whatever he considered best. While making it
clear that “neither the organisation nor myself can meet any expense of publishing”,
Tabata asked Padmore to negotiate with any publisher “the business side of
publication”. 118
On financial matters, Tabata also made it clear to the Reverend Mahabane, the President
of the NEUM and the AAC’s Vice‐President that “if I have to raise the money, then I will
have to take the proceeds as well”. He would have to borrow money at “great risk”. If
the book were banned, he would be “financially ruined”, but this was a risk he was
willing to take because “the publication of the book will benefit the movement in
general”. 119 Tabata, of course, was not employed, and had received a small stipend from
the WPSA for his full‐time political work. 120 It is not surprising that the question of
earning some money from his political publishing was raised as an issue. By December
1950, Tabata received the first 66 copies of the printed books, without covers, which had
been typeset and printed by Baruch Hirson’s People’s Press, and facilitated by Seymour
Papert, Tabata’s protégé in the Progressive Forum in Johannesburg. Tabata was very
disappointed with the quality of the print, but he wanted to ensure that there was as
little delay as possible. In that same month, he arranged for the covers to be printed by
Victory Press in Johannesburg, and at the end of May 1951, Tabata handed 730 books
over for covers to be added. He wanted the cover to “catch the eye”, and although
118 I.B. Tabata to George Padmore, 25 May 1950, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925. Padmore had contact
with the NEUM through Ben Kies and The Torch, which in the previous year, had published an article
by him on racial abuse in Britain. See The Torch, 18 July 1949.
119 I.B. Tabata to Rev. Z.R. Mahabane, 1 June 1950, I.B. Tabata Collection, BC 925.
120 Ciraj Rassool, Interview with Jane Gool, 25‐28 January 1991;
368