Edward (Eddie) Roux was a leading member of the South African Communist Party (CPSA). He became the editor of the CPSA’s weekly publication, Umsebenzi, and continued to edit the publication until 1935 when he was removed from the CPSA’s political bureau through a party-initiated purge.

Following his expulsion from the party, Roux was forced to consider a career outside of politics, and outside of the CPSA. For the next 20 years he took up a career in science, as he had completed his PhD in Plant Physiology in 1929. In the latter capacity he write the book "Grass: a story of Frankenwald".

He was awarded The Order of Ikhamanga in Silver by the democratic post-Apartheid Government, for "Excellent contribution to the struggle for a non-racial, non-sexist, just and democratic South Africa under trying apartheid conditions".