The essays by Govan Mbeki which comprise this book were written, circulated and preserved in Robben Island prison. They were never intended for publication but to be read by other prisoners. Their aim: to educate politically. They are remarkable documents that provided activists with a distillation of practical lessons about political organisation, learned in the most testing conditions. They include extended historical, political and economic analyses that are vital to any assessment of the intellectual history of the South African left. And they are pages in a truly international literature – a record throughout the ages of the creativity and indomitability of people imprisoned for their beliefs. “Learning from Robben Island is an extraordinary selection of Mbeki's essays written, for the most part, between the late 1970s and mid 1980s . . . [It] bears testimony to the endurance of the human spirit . . .” –Philip Steenkamp, The international journal of African historical studies. “[Learning from Robben Island] gives better insight into life on Robben Island, showing that the struggle continued even within prison boundaries.” – Lakela Kaunda.

In the first three months of 1976, during his imprisonment on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela wrote the bulk of his autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom". This was an illegal act, and the manuscript had to be smuggled out by fellow prisoner Mac Maharaj on his release that year. Maharaj used the opportunity to ask Mandela and other political prisoners to write essays about South Africa's political future. These were smuggled out with Mandela's autobiography, and are published, 25 years later, in this book.
These essays provide a "snapshot" of the thinking of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and other prominent Robben Island prisoners before the 1976 Soweto uprising changed the face of politics in South Africa. As such they provide an insight into our history. Each essay is preceded by a biographical introduction and a sketch of the author specially commissioned for this volume.

With an Introduction by Colin Bundy. Published in association with the UWC Historical and Cultural Centre Project, Govan Mbeki's essays formed part of the political education programme that was developed on Robben Island, the 'university' for its political prisoners,such as those arrested and tried at the Rivonia Trials in 1964. 'These prison essays mark a victory in the continuing contest between the pen and the sword'. - Professor Colin Bundy in his Introduction North America: Ohio U Press; Southern Africa: David Philip/New Africa Books

In the late fifties and early sixties, Govan Mbeki was a central figure in the African National Congress and director of the ANC campaigns from underground. Born of a chief and the daughter of a Methodist minister in the Transkei of South Africa in 191, he worked as a teacher, journalist, and tireless labor organizer in a lifetime of protest against the government policy of apartheid. Over two decades of imprisonment on Robben Island did not consign him to obscurity. Along with Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, his name has become a symbol of resistance, not only to the oppressed people of South Africa, but also to the international community who have conferred on him many honors and awards.