Abstract

Industrial War in South Africa

The documentary history of the great South African strike shows the process whereby an industrial struggle can develop into a war and economic issues broaden and change. The sanguinary conflict which has just closed began at the end of December with a strike of coal miners on the Rand following an announced cut of five shillings per shift in wages. The workers claimed, according to the Cape Times, that while their pay had been increased by some 50 per cent, the cost of living had risen 86 per cent, and that the 5s. cut in wages would not result in sufficient saving to improve the export trade. The coal owners asserted that the cost of living could not be taken into consideration; that the price of coal would not permit the continuance of increased wages; and that if wages were not reduced many mines would go out of action.