Ken Keable
Ken Keable is South West Communist Party of Britain District Secretary and Secretary of the Somerset branch.[1]
London Recruits recalled
At a Black Lives Matter rally today (13 June 2020 ) in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, the rally’s organiser, Morning Star supporter Pete Stevenson, read out this stirring message from veteran anti-apartheid campaigner and communist Ken Keable. There were over 200 people at the rally and the message was warmly received.
Message from Mr Ken Keable of Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset.
- In 1968, when I was 23 years old, and again in 1970, I was sent into apartheid South Africa to help the African National Congress in its epic struggle against the racist apartheid regime. Together with other young white people, who later became known as the London Recruits, I distributed thousands of illegal leaflets and set up a street broadcast using an amplified cassette player. Our story has been told in my book, London Recruits – the secret war against apartheid, and is now being made into a film.[2]
District secretary
Ken Keable, with Hugh Kirkbride.
Marx Memorial Library
CPB SW & Cornwall District Committee
Liz Payne Chair, Ken Keable Secretary.
Anti Apartheid and opposing racism Zoom Meeting
CP Beds & Bucks inaugural public meeting. Anti Apartheid and opposing racism Zoom Meeting.
Communist Party of Britain early 2021:
We are going live - thanks to London Recruit Steve Marsling, community activist Farhana Zaman and popular union leader Roger McKenzie speakers at a meeting hosted by the Communist Party in Beds and Bucks to discuss aspects of fighting racism: education, community and union organisation and internationalism.
Participants included Markus Keaney, Adrian Coles, Steve Marsling, Luke Tuchscherer, Ray Gerlach, David Horsley, Ken Keable, Bob Newland, Mark Jones, Bob Allen, Dave Stavris, Pete Smith, Michael Butler, Richard Alcock, Chris Coppock, Hazel Flynn, John Bryan, Kelly Marchant, Joseph Weaver, Anthony O'Hara, Gareth Murphy, Mike Cattell, Adrian Lebowitz.
Centenary conference
Communist Party of Britain centenary conference August 1, 2020
90 years of the workers’ paper - rally
- Chair: Carolyn Jones Director of the Institute of Employment Rights
Speakers
- Ben Chacko Editor of only English language socialist daily in the world, the Morning Star
- Dave Ward General secretary of Communication Workers' Union
- Sarah Woolley General secretary of Bakers & Food workers Union
- Amy Field Chair of London Young Communist League
- Bethany Rielly Journalist, Bethaney will speak on the COVID-19 pandemic crisis
- Kate Clark Morning Star reporter in Moscow and Chile.
With special, surprise guests including Sean Hosey, Steve Marsling, Cathy Dolphin, Pete Smith and Ken Keable, of the London Recruits
Morning Star comrades
Bernadette Keaveney July 2020.
This is such a good picture from 2016 and Ken managed to name everyone "At the Morning Star stall at Tolpuddle. 17.7.16. L-R: Cathy Pound, Ken Keable, Gloria Findlay, Rene Gonzalez, Jane Yates, Gerardo Hernandez, Bernadette Keaveney."
"Red Lives"
The editors, Simon Meddick, Liz Payne and Phil Katz would like to express our thanks to all the contributors to this volume of Red Lives, who have given their time and work freely in the interests of ensuring these personal histories could be shared to inspire others.
Personal recollections and connections have been the principal source for the writers of these biographies, which makes this collection so special. Therefore our thanks go to: Kolya Abramsky, Bill Adam, Mary Aldridge, Brian Allbutt, Arthur Attwood, Meic Birtwistle, Annie Banham, Martin Brown, John Campbell, Colin Carritt, Jennie Chesterton, Joe Clark, Tony Conway, Andy Croft, Mary Davis, Lesley Discum, Megan Dobney, Lorraine Douglas, Paul Dunn, John Ellison, Dan Evans, Ann Field, John Foster, John Fox, Susan Galloway, Tom Gill, Alex Gordon, Bill Greenshields, Robert Griffiths, Liane Groves, Anita Halpin, Jonathan Havard, David Horsley, Pat Jay, Ben Jay, Cad Jones, Roger Jones, Meirian Jump, Chris Kaufman, Phil Katz, Ken Keable, George Kerr, Tam Kirby, Peter Lazenby, Martin Levy, Eleanor Lewington, Alex Maxwell, Rosie McGregor, Bevis Miller, Laura Miller, Tommy Morrison, Kevan Nelson, Cynthia Oughton, Liz Payne, Mike Pentelow Evan Pritchard, Mike Quille, Neil Rafeek, Ruth Rickman-Williams, Jane Rosen, Jane Scott, Tom Sibley, Dr. Mike Squires, Carol Stavris, Dave Stavris Graham Stevenson, Keith Stoddart, Robert Streader, Ruth Styles, The Vale of Leven History Project, Mike Vine, Michael Walker, Lynne Walsh, Robert Wilkinson, Jim Whyte, Tanya Wills, Anita Wright, Nick Wright.
South West communists 2015
Ken Keable, Dean Rossington, Laura-Jane Rossington, Gerry Sables.
London Recruits
The South African Communist Party, at its congress in Boksburg, has honoured the London Recruits with its Special Recognition Award. The other Recruits chose Liberation member Ken Keable to go to the congress, as a guest, to accept the award on behalf of all the Recruits. Here is the text of his speech. A video of the occasion, including an introduction by Ronnie Kasrils can be viewed on www.londonrecruits.org.
"Amandla! Comrade chair, distinguished guests, comrades!
I am pleased to be accompanied on this platform by two other Recruits: comrade Ian Beddowes, who worked undercover in three of the frontline states and now lives in Johannesburg where he works on the staff of the SACP; and comrade Bob Newland, who set off leaflet bombs in Johannesburg in 1971 and spent eight dangerous weeks in South Africa in 1972, preparing for the arrival of a detachment of MK fighters by sea in a ship which, unfortunately, had to abort the mission because of engine trouble.
I am delighted, also, that comrade Ronnie Kasrils is here with us. He sent most of us on our amazing, life-changing missions to South Africa or the front-line states and he holds a very special place in our hearts. Thank you, Ronnie!
After the Rivonia trial ended in 1964, with Nelson Mandela and other leaders jailed for life, almost all the other ANC members had to go into exile, to avoid arrest and torture.
Then they were faced with the problem: how were they to carry on their liberation struggle inside the country when they were outside?
They came up with a brilliant idea. They would recruit young, white internationalists, mainly in the London Area – people who had no personal connection with South Africa and were therefore not known to the racist regime. We could enter the country posing as tourists, business people or honeymoon couples, without arousing suspicion. The regime assumed all white people were racists like them – and that was a bad mistake.
Some of the London Recruits were students at the London School of Economics, including several young Trotskyists belonging to the International Socialists. Some had no political label. However, the great majority of the Recruits were young workers belonging to the British Young Communist League or, in a few cases, the Communist Party. Most of our expenses were met by the Soviet Union. Some Recruits received training in the Soviet Union or Cuba.
Each of us only knew our own little part of the story, and even that we had kept secret for decades because the habit of secrecy was so deeply ingrained. Besides, it seemed to belong to another era. I was amazed at what I found. Some smuggled large quantities of weapons into South Africa. Some did reconnaissance. Some helped MK fighters to enter the country. Some smuggled thousands of letters and packages into South Africa and put them in the post. However, the main activity was to set off leaflet bombs or other leaflet distribution devices, along with street broadcasts using amplified cassette players. We did that once a year every year from 1967 to 1971, each time hitting five cities simultaneously – Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Durban, East London and Cape Town. This hit the headlines and told the people that the ANC was not defeated. The leaflets also brought news and gave advice on how to conduct the struggle, and they brought hope.
I will never forget the beginning of the street broadcast that comrade Pete Smith and I set up in Durban in 1970. After 15 minutes of silence – which was our getaway time – the voice of Robert Resha boomed out, “This is the African National Congress. This is the African National Congress. This is the voice of freedom”. This was followed by the choir of London exiles singing the ANC anthem Nkozi Sikelel’ iAfrika. Then there was a speech and more songs.
I want to mention three Recruits in particular because they were arrested and tortured: Sean Hosey, born in Dublin; on his second mission he walked into a trap and served 13 months awaiting trial and then five years in prison; Alex Moumbaris, a Greek-Australian, who was arrested in 1972 while helping MK fighters to enter South Africa by land; he was sentenced to twelve years in jail but escaped after seven and a half years; and Marie-Jose Moumbaris, Alex’s French wife, who was also arrested and tortured but was released after a few weeks.
When I asked Alex to describe his torture, he replied that there are different levels of torture and he wouldn’t want his suffering to be compared to that of the black comrades.
We now know the names of 66 people whom we can call London Recruits. Besides the British people, these include four from the USA, four Irish people, one Greek, one Greek-Australian and one Frenchwoman. One, only recently discovered, came from Britain’s Ugandan Asian community. She worked in Botswana. Thirteen of the 66 are women. "