Vella Pillay: Revolutionary Activism and Economic Policy Analysis

It was . . . in the Spring of 1961 that Vella told me about a request from ‘our people’ in South Africa for someone to study radio technology and communication and to return to South Africa to teach others. . . . Strange as it may seem, I did not know that Vella was the representative in Europe for the South African Communist Party. ‘I’m murderously careful, stand-offish and a bit difficult.’