The revolution that erupted in Russia in November 1917 shook socialists around the world – South Africa was no exception. Socialism was now no longer merely a utopian vision, but a feasible alternative to capitalism. The International Socialist League was electrified. ‘Long live the Social Revolution, the Light from the East’, proclaimed the International on 16 November. Two weeks later it wrote: ‘The Word becomes Flesh in the Council of Workmen … the political dictatorship of the proletariat’.

It seemed a propitious moment to organize black workers. At the end of November the Industrial Workers of Africa's bilingual isiZulu–Sesotho leaflet appeared – the first socialist appeal to African workers in their mother tongues. The English translation of the isiZulu version began ‘Native workers! Why do you keep in Slavery?’ and exhorted them to ‘Bind yourself in a chain of being workers’. About 10,000 leaflets were distributed across the towns and mines of the Rand. In December the IWA held joint meetings with the African People's Organization and the Transvaal Native Congress.

The allure of the Russian Revolution did not mean that South Africa should blindly follow the Russian path, Sidney argued the next month. When asked by black workers how to organize, he advised them to avoid a ‘slavish imitation of Russia, or any other imported methods’.