Vic Allen

Vic Allen (12 January 1923 – 26 October 2014) was a British communist, human rights activist, political prisoner, sociologist, historian, economist and emeritus professor at the University of Leeds who worked closely with British trade unions, and was considered a key player in the resistance against Apartheid in South Africa. He was also known for being a key activist within the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), and for spending his life supporting the South African National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

Allen was the mentor of British trade union leader Arthur Scargill, and also a brief acquaintance of Nelson Mandela. During attempts to establish trade unions in Nigeria, he was accused of conspiring to overthrow the Nigerian government and spent 6 months in jail. He was also involved in a successful mission to smuggle £100,000 into Apartheid South Africa to fund trade unions, and in 1988 was present at secret talks in Cuba between Fidel Castro and black South African union leaders. While working as a bricklayer, he began to be educated in Marxism and socialism by fellow workers. a confidant of Arthur Scargill, Ken Gill and Mick McGahey and an adviser to British trade unionists for over 40 years. He also aided trade unionists and campaigners in the fight against apartheid in South Africa from the 1960s onwards and, after the fall of the regime, wrote a three-volume history of mineworkers in South Africa on behalf of the South African National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). He was a member of the national committee of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) for many years, and in 1985 he came last in a ballot to choose the chair of the organisation running on a pro-Soviet, unilateral disarmament ticket.

In support of NUM, Allen was involved in a mission to smuggle £100,000 into South Africa to fund trade unions in the country.

In the early 1990s a close friend of Allen, Ramaphosa (who went on to become President of South Africa in 2018), took him on a trip to Johannesburg airport. To Allen's surprise, Nelson Mandela was present in the back seat of their car. Mandela and Allen shared a long car ride discussion of world politics and the two activists bonded over their shared love of boxing. Allen admitted "pass[ing] on information about CND's activities ... [but] considered that perfectly legitimate because he belonged to a pro-Soviet, pro-East German faction of the group." Allen defended his actions citing that none of the information he had discussed was secret.

Honours and awards In 2010, Allen was awarded the Kgao ya Bahale award, the highest honour awarded by the South African NUM.

Allen wrote and published three volumes of the history of the National Union of Miners (NUM) in South Africa, described by academics as "one of the strongest and most insightful produced to date". Vic Allen was married three times during his life, and fathered five children: Jane, Nick and Julian with his first wife Margaret, and Sophie and Lucy with his second wife Sheila Allen. His third wife was Kate Carey. He had 8 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren by the time he died. A delegation of the NUM was present at Allen's funeral.

Baleni said of Allen:"Back then black South African mineworkers had no names. We had company numbers. We were just a tool. Vic made it possible for us to train in the UK. We were taken to Trafalgar Square where anti-apartheid activists were camping day and night. That made me fully understand the meaning of empathy. Vic taught us to make sure we appreciated each other, never to leave anything to chance." Arthur Scargill, whom Allen had mentored before Scargill became the president of the NUM, described Allen as "an intellectual giant, a writer without peer."

Books Power in Trade Unions, Longmans, 1954 Militant Trade Unionism - a re-analysis of industrial action in an inflationary situation, Merlin, 1966. The Sociology of Industrial Relations, Longmans, 1971. Social Analysis: A Marxist Critique and Alternative. Longmans, 1975 The Militancy of British Miners, Moor Press, 1981. The Russians are Coming: The Politics of Anti-Sovietism, Moor Press, 1987. The History of Black Mineworkers in South Africa Volume 1, Moor Press, 1992. Apartheid Repression and Dissent in the Mines. The History of Black Mineworkers in South Africa, 1948-1982, Merlin Press and Moor Press, 2003. Organise or Die. The History of Black Mineworkers in South Africa, 1982-1994, Merlin Press and Moor Press, 2005.