New Age (newspaper)

New Age was an influential leftist newspaper in Johannesburg operating from 1953 to 1962. It was formed with the co-operation of a number of left-wing groups in the area; New Age received the assets of the communist Jewish Worker's Club, which had been liquidated in 1948.^[1] The newspaper later received support from a committee of the anti-apartheid South African Students' Association.^[2]

From the start, New Age published fiction and poetry as well as journalism. The newspaper had a prize for fiction depicting the oppressions of apartheid,^[3] and introduced several important politically aware poets, most notably Keorapetse Kgositsile, who became the literary voice of the South African anti-apartheid movement while in exile in the United States.

Its journalists, such as Joe Nzingo Gqabi^[4] were aligned with the African National Congress, particularly the older generation of the ANC leadership.^[5] It was sympathetic to labour movements and to militant leftists of all stripes. New Age was shut down by the government in 1962.

References

1. Adler, Taffy, "Lithuania's Diaspora: The Johannesburg Jewish Workers' Club, 1928-1948" (Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1, [1979], 70-92), 92.
2. Gurney, Christabel, "'A Great Cause': The Origins of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, June 1959-March 1960" (Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1. [2000], pp. 123-144), 132.
3. Lindfors, Bernth, "Post-War Literature in English by African Writers from South Africa: A Study of the Effects of Environment upon Literature" (Phylon, Vol. 27, No. 1. [1966], pp. 50-62), 53.
4. "Joe Nzingo Gqabi". South African History Online. Retrieved 2012-10-05.
5. Feit, Edward, "Generational Conflict and African Nationalism in South Africa: The African National Congress, 1949-1959" (The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2. [1972], 181-202), 195.