BRAM [facing the audience, puts shaving foam on his face and starts shaving]: The other night I dreamed I had a long beard. A beard like Oupa Abraham. A beard like old President Steyn of the Orange Free State. Like the Commandant of the Kroonstad Kommando who gave me the chameleon carved out of wood. As if he knew that one day I would become a chameleon, pretending to be Douglas Black, professional photographer … When I told my dream to Marius Schoon he said: ‘Oom Bram, is Oom seker Oom het nie gedroom Oom is Karl Marx nie? [Uncle Bram are you sure you didn't dream that you were Karl Marx?]’

I laughed, and recalled my last visit to London. I hopped on one of those red buses to clear my mind. To escape everybody who was begging me not to return to South Africa. I realised I was near Highgate Cemetery. I got out … The previous time I went there I was with Molly … It was easy to find Karl Marx's grave. I stood looking at his big bearded head and the words ‘Workers of all lands unite’ and realised once again that it wasn't only Marx's theories that had led me to the Communist Party but also the need to serve my fellow man.

I was arrested for the last time on 23 September 1964 under the Suppression of Communism Act. My trial was scheduled for November. I applied for bail and, contrary to all expectations, it was granted. I was even allowed to travel to London to defend a case in front of the Privy Council. I won the case. My comrades in London, Joe Slovo and Yusuf Dadoo, even Ruth and her husband, Anthony, tried to convince me to stay. When Anthony said that a conviction would mean the end of my career I said, ‘Fuck my career.’ They were both shocked. But I had to come back. I gave them my word. Besides, the Nat government would have preferred it if I had fled the country.