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eventREF E-0011442Revised

Event record

Labour pioneer Samuel Long is arrested

Labour pioneer Samuel Long is arrested

Date
15 Mar 1922
Updated
30 Sep 2019
Labour pioneer Samuel Long is arrested

Samuel Alfred (Taffy) Long, heralded as one of South Africa's greatest working-class martyrs, was arrested after the defeat of Fordsburg during the Rand Revolt. Long was arrested for the murder of Alwyn Petrus Marais, a Fordsburg shopkeeper, and later also charged with high treason and the possession of loot. On 17 November 1922, he was hanged at the Central Prison in Pretoria, together with Herbert Hull and David Lewis, both strikers, who had been sentenced for the murder of Lt Rupert William Taylor. When they were brought from their cells, the three men sang the 'Red Flag', the official anthem of early socialists and communists in South Africa.

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How we know this

  1. 01Verwey, E.J. (ed)(1995). New Dictionary of South African Biography, v.1 , Pretoria: HSRC.
  2. 02SAHO, Samuel Alfred (Taffy) Long, from South African History Online, [online], Available at www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed: 17 February 2014]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Labour pioneer Samuel Long is arrested. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011442

South African History Online (2011) 'Labour pioneer Samuel Long is arrested', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011442 (Accessed: 30 July 2026).

South African History Online, Labour pioneer Samuel Long is arrested [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011442, (accessed 30 July 2026).

"Labour pioneer Samuel Long is arrested." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011442. Accessed 30 July 2026.

South African History Online. "Labour pioneer Samuel Long is arrested." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011442.

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