ANC: View from Moscow

This title describes the history of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa in the three decades following its banning. There are many myths surrounding the ANC: some of them are harmless, the product of enthusiastic supporters; others are malicious, disseminated by those in South Africa abroad who did their best to prevent the victory of the ANC and still cannot accept that victory as a reality. The belief is that the comprehensive history of the ANC should and will be written by South Africans. However, of non-South African historians, it is perhaps Soviet Russian scholars who are best placed to undertake such a study. This is because of the multifaceted relationship that developed between Moscow and the South African liberation movement. Inevitably, that relationship occupies a significant place in this title.

Vladimir Shubin was a high-level Soviet official who was involved for many years in aiding in the struggle against apartheid. He is now the head of the Africa section in the international department of the communist party of the Soviet Union and the senior research fellow of the center for southern African studies at the University of the Western Cape.