The Early Years¶
Core Argument¶
Ted Grant was born Isaac Blank on 9 July 1913 in Germiston, South Africa, to Lithuanian-Jewish and French-Jewish parents. His father, a compulsive gambler, ruined the family financially, leading to divorce and lasting emotional scars. After a brief period with his father, Grant lived permanently with his mother, who ran a small shop. Rejecting religion at a young age—asking a teacher “who created God?” when presented with Genesis—he sought answers in Marxism. His political awakening came from witnessing the brutal, near-slavery conditions of black workers, who lived in shacks and subsisted on mealies. This hatred of racial oppression shaped his early development; he rejected Trotsky’s support for the Boers in the Boer War on these grounds.
Grant’s conversion to Marxism began at 14, reading Marx, Engels, Lenin, and others, catalysed by Ralph Lee, a Trotskyist lodger in his mother’s house. Lee introduced him to Trotskyist literature from Vanguard Booksellers, run by Frank Glass. By 15, Grant had joined the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA). Lee, alongside Murray Gow Purdy, formed a small Trotskyist group opposed to Stalinism. In April 1934, they constituted the Bolshevik-Leninist League of South Africa and were expelled from the CPSA. The group focused on organising black workers, reviving the African Laundry Workers’ Union. In August-September 1934, a strike at three large laundries won tacit recognition but collapsed under repression; 73 strikers were arrested for breach of contract and sacked. Despite defeat, the strike was a historic landmark. The group then formed the Workers’ Party of South Africa.
Facing severe difficulties and with war looming, Grant and Max Basch decided to leave for Britain. Grant made his first public speech in Cape Town before sailing for Europe. The departure of leading comrades left the remaining group in dire conditions. Ralph Lee reported to Paul Koston that his relations with Purdy were “strained to the utmost,” with open glowering during branch meetings. By June 1935, Lee declared party affairs “in a hell of a mess.” Purdy was eventually expelled; he later went to India, advocating a line emphasising caste over class, which Ted rejected. Ralph and Millie Lee, with a small group of comrades, subsequently decided to follow the others to London.