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The worldwide depression, which started in 1929, had a serious effect on South African economic life. By 1930, industrial production, which was only in its infancy, began to decline and large-scale unemployment followed. As there was no social insurance of any kind in the country, the unemployed workers suffered great distress. For the hundreds of garment workers, who had no savings at the back of them, life became unbearable and many literally starved. The union spent large sums in buying essentials, such as flour, sugar and bread, for distribution among members, but our funds were totally inadequate to cope with the problem.
The agreement with the clothing industry expired early in 1931 and negotiations for a new agreement started under circumstances which were by no means favourable for the workers. The employers demanded a reduction of twenty-five per cent. in wages and this demand was countered by a request from the union for a substantial increase in wages. During the years 1929-30, the union was very active and aroused a tremendous spirit of militancy among the workers. A great many small-scale strikes, involving one or two factories, had recently taken place, though most of them were not concerned with questions of wages and hours but directed against minor abuses prevalent in the industry at the time. Nearly all these strikes were successful and this helped to inspire the workers with confidence.
Negotiations between the union and the Transvaal Clothing Manufacturers' Association dragged on for months, and both sides were adamant. Finally, when complete deadlock was reached, a mass meeting of garment workers, attended by about twelve hundred, was called and the workers, with great enthusiasm, voted unaniÂmously to come out in a general strike. Tactically, the strike may have been an error for, as a result of the depression, orders for garments to the factories declined considerably. There was a good deal of division, however, among the employers. Some of them were prepared, not only to drop the demand for a, reduction in wages, but to consider minor increases.
In July 1931, two thousand, two hundred and eighty-nine workers in Johannesburg and Germiston stopped work. There was not a single scab in their ranks. Fortunately, we succeeded in splitting the employers and one of the largest manufacturers came to an agreement with the union to carry on work under the old conditions pending a settlement. This scabbing on the part of a large employer caused grave misgivings in the ranks of the manufacturers.
The union officials had ample experience in handling small strikes, but the general strike presented numerous unforeseen problems.
In Johannesburg, about fifteen hundred strikers assembled at the union headquarters, where the largest hall could seat only seven hundred. As there were no scabs, there was no need for picket lines and we were faced with the problem of what to do with such a large crowd. It was essential to keep the workers together for the first few days of the strike at least, for we knew from experience that there was a much finer spirit amongst the workers when they were together than when they remained dispersed in their homes. Then there was the problem of feeding them. Nearly all the workers lived far away from the centre of the city and a trip home would have involved them in extra expense. Besides, most of the cupboards at home were bare.
A strike committee was elected and we promptly got down to business. Banners _were hastily improvised and we led the strikers in a demonstration through the streets of Johannesburg, singing folk songs and shouting slogans. The repertoire of labour songs in South Africa is very limited, but the workers soon made up songs of their own to the music of popular tunes. While the strikers were demonstrating, a group of highly efficient women hastily prepared sandwiches. But we were still faced with the problem of finding useful tasks for idle hands and the committee decided to organise teams to try and collect money for the strike.
At five o'clock every morning, hundreds of women and a few men used to assemble at the Trades Hall and, from there, disperse along the Reef. We soon found that there was warm support for the strike among the miners and small groups of women collectors would stand outside the mineshafts to meet the workers as they came off shift. Several hundred more strikers went round collecting in the city. The organisation of mass collections served several useful purposes. Firstly, it relieved the congestion at the Trades Hall; secondly, it kept large numbers usefully occupied; thirdly, it brought in some much needed cash. Last, but not least, the young women collectors were able to arouse a great deal of public sympathy for the workers' cause.
The officials and the strike committee sat at the Trades Hall all day and usually till about midnight to await the return of the collectors and to hear and examine their reports. Generally, the collectors were well received in the city and, only in a few instances, did they meet with rudeness. The first day's collection brought in over £700, mostly in coin. The five hundred workers of the bespoke tailoring section, who were not on strike, unanimously resolved to donate twenty-five per cent. of their weekly wages to the strike, but the response from the trade union movement as a whole was not very inspiring.
After about a week, many of the workers dispersed to their homes, and only visited the union headquarters in order to sign the strike register. But hundreds of others came every day to the Trades Hall, where they quickly got together a dance band and passed the time happily dancing to it. This caused considerable annoyance to the union officials and their staff who had their offices in the building.
The employers refused to yield, but the fact that one large factory carried on operations began to worry them considerably.
At this stage, one of the union officials committed a grave tactical blunder. Before the strike, the employers had agreed among themselves to help each other out in case of need. AccordÂingly many manufacturers, whose factories were on strike, began sending rolls of cloth to the unaffected factory to be made up into garments. The workers showed some ingenuity and, without any directives from the union, determined to thwart the efforts of the outside employers to get their orders executed. They mixed up the sizes of different parts of garments and often the colours, with the result that the finished articles presented a somewhat strange appearance, with one leg of a pair of trousers being of blue serge and the other of worsted grey, or a size three being sewn together with a size six. On one occasion, the workers got up from their machines and threw the rolls of cloth into the street. The employers very naturally felt indignant, but there was nothing they could do. The union officials had to exert great pressure on the several hundred workers in the scab factory in order to stop them joining their fellow-workers who were on strike. It was very difficult for masses of young women workers to appreciate fully the advantages of "divide and rule". During the third week of the strike, in a moment of excitement and irresponsibility, one of the union officials led a demonstration of several hundred workers outside the scab factory. The demonstrators cheered and sang songs and the workers inside became restless. Suddenly, they got up from the machines, walked out and joined the strikers.
This was what the employers were waiting for. Now the whole industry was at a standstill and no employer could execute urgent orders. Signs of demoralisation also became apparent among many strikers who would continually ask: "When are we going back to work?"
The situation became somewhat difficult for the union and fresh negotiations were opened with the employers. After several meetings, an agreement was reached whereby the employers withdrew their demand for a reduction in wages and the union withdrew its demand for an increase. All that the workers received was a contribution of three pence a week to the voluntary sick fund of the union, which the employers undertook to pay. The workers returned to work with their spirit unbroken, but without the flush of victory. The new agreement ended the strike but did not establish peaceful relations. It was due to expire after only nine months and both sides, though anxious to avoid trouble, fully expected another clash as soon as this happened, and began to make their preparations accordingly. All the advantages were on the side of the employers. The economic position of the country had deteriorated still further, and most of the factories in the clothing industry were on short time. Unemployment was rife with the result that union funds were soon seriously depleted and our position gradually grew weaker. Many individual employers began to show open hostility towards the union. Active trade unionists were dismissed and numerous obstacles were put in the way of union officials in the conduct of their work. In the ranks of the workers, there was a good deal of apathy and demoralisation and many new members stopped paying their contributions and lost interest.
On the other hand, three years of vigorous, militant trade union struggles led to hundreds of young Afrikaner women taking an active part in union work. The numerous small strikes, and more especially the general strike of 1931, did much to inspire confidence and a spirit of unity, loyalty and sacrifice among large numbers of workers. Many factories elected factory committees and shop stewards and these dealt actively and regularly with workers complaints, enrolled new members and inculcated the spirit of trade unionism among their fellow-workers. Above all, the voice of the young workers began to make it heard. Formerly they had been too shy and inarticulate; now one could hear women expressing with youthful exuberance the true spirit of trade unionism. Several of the more promising Afrikaner women were elected to the various committees of the union. At first they felt more at home leading demonstrations, addressing meetings of strikers or standing on the picket lines, and found the routine of committee meetings rather dull and monotonous. But gradually some of them began to understand the importance of committee work. Many Afrikaners, especially the women, are born orators. They cannot express themselves adequately in English, but in their own language they are magnificent and inspiring. The older men in the union soon changed their opinions about "these girls" and, while the technical work of the union, such as finances and other purely administrative matters, still remained the preserve of the "old guard", the spirit of the union, the fiery cross of trade unionism, the struggle for a new life and for social justice, were taken over entirely by he young girls from the Platteland.