Forman, Lionel

Forman, Lionel 

Born Dec. 25, 1927, in Johannesburg; died Oct. 19, 1959, in Cape Town. South African historian and publicist. Communist.

Forman was educated at universities in Cape Town and Johannesburg. He was elected to the executive committee of the National Union of South African Students in 1950 and later to the executive committee of the International Union of Students (IUS). From 1952 to 1954 he worked in the press division of IUS headquarters in Prague. Upon his return to South Africa, he became editor of the progressive newspaper New Age.

In 1956, Forman was accused of treason, along with 155 other leaders of the antiracist struggle. He died during the trial, leaving uncompleted his work on the history of South Africa. His articles and essays, some of which were published posthumously, analyze the most important problems of South African history from a Marxist standpoint.

WORKS

Chapters in the History of the March to Freedom. [Cape Town, 1959.]
Black and White in South African History. Cape Town [1960].
Why Did Dingane Kill Relief. . . . Cape Town, 1964.
In Russian translation:
Protsess o gosudarstvennoi izmene v Iuzhno-Afrikanskom Soiuze. Moscow, 1959. (With S. Sachs.)

REFERENCE

Davidson, A. B. luzhnaia Afrika: Stanovlenie sil protesta. Moscow, 1972. (See name index.)

A. B. DAVIDSON