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'@@ -16,5 +16,6 @@ '''Vella Pillay''' (1923 – 2004) was an international economist and a founding member of the British [[Anti-Apartheid Movement]].<ref name=Sega>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/aug/03/guardianobituaries.southafrica|publisher=[[The Guardian]]|year=2004|first=Ronald|last=Sega|title=Vella Pillay: Economist who fought apartheid and drew up a coherent programme for the new South Africa}},</ref> -Born into poverty in [[Johannesburg]],<ref name=VishnuSender/> Pillay was of [[Tamils|Tamil]] descent and classified as "Indian" by the South African [[Population Registration Act, 1950]]. He gained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the [[University of the Witwatersrand]] in 1948, where he joined the [[South African Communist Party]] (SACP).{{sfn | Padayachee | 2019 | p=47}}<ref name=Sega/> After joining the SACP he met influential African leaders including [[Nelson Mandela]], [[Walter Sisulu]], [[Oliver Tambo]] and the then President of the African National Congress, [[Alfred Bitini Xuma]]. To finance his studies and contribute to his family's welfare, he worked during the day as a book keeper for an Indian company. During the 1940s Pillay joined the resistance to the Pegging Act, later to be incorporated in apartheid legislation, which included the [[Group Areas Act]] that discriminated against Indians.{{sfn | Padayachee | 2019 | p=47}} He married Patricia Truebig (1925 – 2021),<ref name=Anand>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/16/patricia-pillay-obituary|publisher=The Guardian|title=Patricia Pillay obituary|first=Anand|last=Pillay|year=2021}}</ref> of Austro-German descent, in June 1948. They could not marry in Johannesburg and had to go to [[Mahikeng]] where racially mixed marriages were still legal.<ref name=VishnuSender/> +== Biography == +Born into poverty in [[Johannesburg]],<ref name="VishnuSender">Vishnu Padayachee & John Sender (2017), “Vella Pillay: Revolutionary Activism and Economic Policy Analysis.” Social Scientist 45, no. 3/4 : 17–40. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/26380343]</ref> Pillay was of [[Tamils|Tamil]] descent and classified as "Indian" by the South African [[Population Registration Act, 1950]]. He gained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the [[University of the Witwatersrand]] in 1948, where he joined the [[South African Communist Party]] (SACP).{{sfn | Padayachee | 2019 | p=47}}<ref name="Sega" /> After joining the SACP he met influential African leaders including [[Nelson Mandela]], [[Walter Sisulu]], [[Oliver Tambo]] and the then President of the African National Congress, [[Alfred Bitini Xuma]]. To finance his studies and contribute to his family's welfare, he worked during the day as a book keeper for an Indian company. During the 1940s Pillay joined the resistance to the Pegging Act, later to be incorporated in apartheid legislation, which included the [[Group Areas Act]] that discriminated against Indians.{{sfn | Padayachee | 2019 | p=47}} He married Patricia Truebig (1925 – 2021),<ref name="Anand">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/16/patricia-pillay-obituary|publisher=The Guardian|title=Patricia Pillay obituary|first=Anand|last=Pillay|year=2021}}</ref> of Austro-German descent, in June 1948. They could not marry in Johannesburg and had to go to [[Mahikeng]] where racially mixed marriages were still legal.<ref name="VishnuSender" /> They moved to London in 1949,<ref name=Moffat>{{cite web|url=https://commonwealthoralhistories.org/explandict/vella-pillay/|title= Vella Pillay|publisher=[[Institute of Commonwealth Studies]]|first=Chris|last=Moffat|year=2015}}</ref>where Pillay studied part time for a degree in international economics at the [[London School of Economics]](LSE), while working at the [[Bank of China]], where he stayed for the whole of his working life, rising to the position of Assistant General Manager.<ref name=Moffat/> While studying part-time at the LSE, Pillay relied on his wife, Patricia (Patsy), for financial support.{{sfn | Padayachee | 2019 | p=48}} Patsy worked for [[V. K. Krishna Menon]] the second most powerful man in India after his ally, the first Prime Minister of India, [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]. He visited the [[People's Republic of China]] several times and met [[Mao Zedong]], [[Zhou Enlai]] and other leaders.<ref name=VishnuSender/> Pillay joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement in 1960 after organising a boycott of South African goods in 1959, and worked closely with the [[British Communist Party]]. Pillay went on to serve as the AAM’s Treasurer and later Vice-Chairman, and was also an editor of the monthly Anti-Apartheid News.{{sfn | Padayachee | 2019 | p=50}} @@ -22,5 +23,10 @@ As a result of the [[Sino-Soviet split]] in the 1960s, Pillay's position at the Bank of China was viewed with suspicion by the SACP, which remained loyal to the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet Communist Party]]. In 1960 or 1961, Pillay was confronted by a representative of the SACP (possibly Michael Alan Harmel (1915–1974), a political mentor and friend of Nelson Mandela) on a boat on a river in Moscow and told to leave the Bank of China or face expulsion from the SACP.{{sfn | Padayachee | 2019 | p=49}} Pillay refused and was side-lined by the SACP.<ref name=Sender>Vishnu Padayachee & John Sender (2018) Vella Pillay: Revolutionary Activism and Economic Policy Analysis, Journal of Southern African Studies, 44:1, 149-165, DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2018.1405644</ref> He had declined an offer of an equivalent position at a proposed Soviet bank thinking his job with the Chinese was more secure.{{sfn | Padayachee | 2019 | p=50}} In 1978, Pillay was awarded an MSc in economics by the University of London.{{sfn | Padayachee | 2019 | p=51}} During his time in London, Pillay published widely on South African economics, and often used the pseudonym "P. Tlale" when writing for the ''[[African Communist]]''.{{sfn | Padayachee | 2019 | p=51}} -Pillay returned to Johannesburg temporarily in 1992-93 to coordinate the work of the [[African National Congress]] Macroeconomic Research Group (MERG).<ref name=Sega/> He was awarded an honorary PhD from the [[University of Natal]] in recognition his direction of MERG, despite the ANC leadership's rejection of the group's report.<ref name=Sender/> Pillay was active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement until it's dissolution in 1994, when South Africa achieved majority rule through free and fair elections, in which Pillay voted. On the occasion of Pillay's 80th birthday President [[Thabo Mbeki]] sent him a message which, in part, read "your outstanding contribution to the liberation of our people will always be remembered with fondness – particularly your role in establishing one of the greatest solidarity movements of our time, the British Anti-Apartheid Movement".<ref name=VishnuSender/> Pillay died aged 80 in London in 2004.<ref name=O'Malley>{{cite web|url=https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv02424/04lv02426/05lv02631.htm|title=Pillay, Vella|last=O’Malley|first=Padraig|publisher=[[Nelson Mandela Foundation]]}}</ref><ref name=VishnuSender>Vishnu Padayachee & John Sender (2017), “Vella Pillay: Revolutionary Activism and Economic Policy Analysis.” Social Scientist 45, no. 3/4 : 17–40. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/26380343]</ref> +Pillay returned to Johannesburg temporarily in 1992-93 to coordinate the work of the [[African National Congress]] Macroeconomic Research Group (MERG).<ref name=Sega/> He was awarded an honorary PhD from the [[University of Natal]] in recognition his direction of MERG, despite the ANC leadership's rejection of the group's report.<ref name=Sender/> Pillay was active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement until it's dissolution in 1994, when South Africa achieved majority rule through free and fair elections, in which Pillay voted. On the occasion of Pillay's 80th birthday President [[Thabo Mbeki]] sent him a message which, in part, read "your outstanding contribution to the liberation of our people will always be remembered with fondness – particularly your role in establishing one of the greatest solidarity movements of our time, the British Anti-Apartheid Movement".<ref name=VishnuSender/> + +== Personal life == +Pillay married his wife Patsy Pillay in June 1948. He had met her earlier during his time with the [[South African Communist Party|SACP]]. The couple married in the Cape, where marriage was permitted across races at the time. The couple had two sons including mathematician [[Anand Pillay]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Segal|first=Ronald|date=2004-08-03|title=Obituary: Vella Pillay|url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/aug/03/guardianobituaries.southafrica|access-date=2021-02-21|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Johnson|first=Angella|date=2013-12-07|title=The fugitive... on the run in London|url=https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2520037/The-fugitive--run-London-Confidante-reveals-astonishing-inside-story-Black-Pimpernel-clandestine-mission-Britain-1962--posing-tourist.html|access-date=2021-11-13|website=Mail Online}}</ref> + +Pillay died on 29 July 2004 at Whittington Hospital, in [[Highgate, London]]. He was aged 80.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Vella Pillay {{!}} South African History Online|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/vella-pillay|access-date=2021-02-21|website=www.sahistory.org.za}}</ref><ref name="O'Malley">{{cite web|last=O’Malley|first=Padraig|title=Pillay, Vella|url=https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv02424/04lv02426/05lv02631.htm|publisher=[[Nelson Mandela Foundation]]}}</ref> ==References== '