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In Mein Kampf, Hitler propounded at length the need for capturing or disrupting all mass organisations in the interest of National Socialism. The leaders of the Nationalists, having absorbed Hitler's teachings, energetically began to apply these Nazi tactics.
By 1936, the Dutch Reformed Churches, the predominantly Afrikaans universities of Stellenbosch and Pretoria, the Afrikaans Cultural Societies, various sport and youth organisations, had all been brought under the tutelage of the Nationalist Party. In July of that year, the Afrikaans launched a furious campaign Cultural Societies against the trade union movement. This campaign started in the form of a crusade.
"To save the souls of the Afrikaner workers from the corruption of the foreigners, imperialists, communists, Jews, liberals and kafferboeties (nigger lovers)". Afrikaans professors, lawyers, fanners, financiers and ministers of the Dutch Reformed Churches-not by workers, led the crusade.
A wealthy woman landowner, from Stellenbosch in the Cape Province, who was a staunch supporter of the Nationalist Party, donated the sum of £10,000 towards this campaign and a "Reform Organisation" under the leadership of Dr. Albert Hertzog, the son of the Prime Minister, was established. This body, supported by the Nationalist Party, politicians and press, launched a vicious campaign on a nation-wide scale against the existing trade union movement.
The methods of these disrupters were in every way identical with those of the Nazis in Germany, right down to the phraseology. First, there was the bogey of communism, and all trade union leaders, including many who were bitterly anti-communist, were branded as "Communists" and "Moscow agents". Even the conservative former president of the South African Trades and Labour Council, Mr. A. J. Downes, who on more than one occasion had publicly attacked communism, was labelled a communist. Anti-semitism, too, was exploited with great vigour. Although very few trade union leaders in South Africa were Jewish, the Malanazis, in their papers and from platforms, accused the trade union movement of being a "foreign" institution "entirely controlled by Jews". It was said to be hostile to the interests of the Afrikaners, since it wanted to divide them into employers and employees, workers and capitalists. Last, but not least, the reactionaries appealed to the colour prejudice of the Afrikaner workers-"White civilisation must be saved". In the trade union movement, European, Coloured and Native workers were all of equal importance. This, they said, constituted a danger to "white" South Africa.
The crusade was directed mainly against those trade unions which had a predominantly Afrikaner membership, especially the Mineworkers' Union and the Garment Workers' Union. Most of the members of the Mineworkers' Union-the largest and, from an economic point of view, the most important union of European workers-are Afrikaans-speaking and violently anti-African. The union's constitution has a colour bar, only workers of European descent being eligible for membership. The leadership was in the hands of people who cared little for the true principles and functions of trade unionism.
Since South Africa had gone off "the gold standard, at the end of 1932, the gold mines had known unprecedented prosperity, but the mine workers' conditions had not improved. The white miners were discontented. They expected their leaders to fight for higher wages, but the leaders failed them, and this gave the disrupters an excellent opportunity to pose as the workers' champions. They made full use of the fact that foreign financiers, who were making enormous profits by exploiting the Afrikaner workers, largely owned the mines. They accused the leaders of the Mineworkers' Union of working hand-in-glove with the Chamber of Mines. For over a decade the struggle for control of the union was waged between the "Reformers", who had gained influence among the rank-and-file miners, and the official leaders. The Reformers did not confine themselves to verbal arguments, but frequently resorted to physical violence. On one occasion, a group of Reformers seized control of the Mineworkers' Union's office and the leaders of the union had to apply to the Supreme Court for an order to eject them.
In 1937, the Mineworkers' Union, together with eight other unions with membership in the mines, entered into a closed shop agreement with the Chamber of Mines. The agreement deprived the mining unions of the right of any real trade union activity and placed them, to all intents and purposes, under the control of the Chamber of Mines. The closed shop clause in. the agreement, however, compelled every mineworker to be a member of his union. The Reformers denounced the closed shop principle and ministers of the Dutch Reformed Churches preached against it from their pulpits.
On The 15th June 1939, a young Afrikaner, who had been influenced by this propaganda, shot Charlie Harris, secretary of the Mineworkers' Union, dead outside his office. Tried for murder, the assassin was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
As a result of two political strikes in the mines, engineered by the Nationalist Party and its stooge organisations, in 1948 the Mineworkers' Union came under the control of the Nationalists.
The campaign of the Nationalist Party and its stooge organisaÂtions against the free trade union movement made rapid progress within the ranks of the Mineworkers' Union and frightened several leaders in other trade unions. In the Garment Workers' Union it had the very opposite effect. The vast majority of workers, themselves Afrikaners and often Nationalists, became incensed at the vicious attacks on the union and its leaders by cultural organisaÂtions, Nationalist politicians, Dutch Reformed Church ministers and others. General meetings of the union, which were always attended by thousands of members, unanimously adopted resolutions, denouncing the insidious activities of the self-styled saviours of the Afrikaner "volk". Members of the union were warned that any association with these fascist, disruptive organisations would lead to disciplinary action. Meanwhile Dr. Albert Hertzog toured the whole country, attacking the trade union movement in the vilest fashion. The Nationalist Members of Parliament and ministers of the Dutch Reformed Churches poured out an incessant stream of abuse and vilification against the trade union movement and made me a special target. Nevertheless, for many years the ranks of the garment workers remained unshaken.
In 1938, the disrupters, with the vast sums of money at their disposal, appointed several full-time agents to concentrate on our union. Most prominent of these was a certain D. B. H. Grobbelaar, who had never had any association with the trade union movement. He soon set about his task, using the usual Nationalist tactics.
The year 1938 marked the Voortrekker Centenary, and the occasion was exploited to the full by the Nationalist Party to revive the spirit of Afrikanerdom. Tens of thousands of Afrikaners, although opposed to the Nationalist Party, wanted to pay tribute to the Voortrekkers, and participated in the celebrations. The Garment Workers' Union decided to form a Kappie Kommando of women dressed in Voortrekker costumes, to take part in the various processions and celebrations. One might have expected the Nationalists to appreciate this gesture but their unscrupulous leaders, far from being interested in furthering true nationalism and culture among the Afrikaner people, were only concerned with exploiting national sentiments for party gain.
On the 28th October 1938, I received the following letter:
"I enclose herewith a specimen copy of a pamphlet published by me, in which I point out the mockery of our national traditions your participation in the Centenary Celebrations will mean.
"The same applies to Johanna Cornelius and your other Communistic accomplices. The Afrikaner nation is busy uniting-to mobilise its forces against you and your sort. The thousands of Afrikaner daughters whom you have in your clutches will settle with you and, with them, the whole Boer nation, who are finding themselves in the Voortrekker year. Our people do not want anything to do with Communism and the Jews-the high priests thereof-least of all. The day when we Afrikaners begin to settle with you Jews, you will find out that Germany is a Jewish paradise compared with what South Africa will be! The garment workers will very soon be able to handle their Jewish bosses and do not need your so-called 'help'. We Afrikaners acknowledge no 'classes' as you and your satellites are trying to introduce-therefore, we do not want the garment workers as a 'class' to participate in the celebrations, but all together with us as Boers-the factory girl with the professor's wife. You and Johanna Cornelius, who all day organise and address kaffirs-will you dare to bring them also along to the celebrations? They are your fellow-workers and 'comrades'.
"We challenge you to come to the celebrations and this is our last warning".
(Signed) D. B. H. Grobbelaar. Here is an extract from my reply:
"I am quite prepared to allow the thousands of 'Afrikaner daughters' to settle with me and I extend an invitation to you to come and address a meeting of these thousands of 'Afrikaner daughters'. Although I do not consider it an honour to be with you on the platform, I am prepared to appear with you at a mass meeting of garment workers and unreservedly to abide by their decision. Each of us will address the workers and then we will submit the following two resolutions:
(1) That this mass meeting of garment workers has no confidence in the Jew Communist, E. S. Sachs, and demands his immediate resignation.
(2) That this mass meeting of garment workers has no confidence in Mr. D. B. H. Grobbelaar and his friends and requests him to leave the garment workers alone, and when they need his help they will send for him".
Mr. Grobbelaar accepted the challenge and, on the 9th March 1939, over two thousand garment workers crowded into the Selborne Johannesburg, to decide whom to support. The indignation e workers was so great that Anna Scheepers, who was in the chair and the stewards had great difficulty in restraining them from dragging Grobbelaar off the platform. Each of us spoke for fifteen minutes and, when the two resolutions were put to the vote, Grobbelaar received thirteen votes and the rest voted for me. From the ovation I received and from the spirit of the workers, one could easily see that the propaganda of the disrupters had not only misfired, but had greatly increased the workers' support for and loyalty to the union.
On the 31st January 1939, Grobbelaar held a private meeting in the house of a garment worker in Vrededorp, a working-class suburb of Johannesburg. Eight workers were present. Grobbelaar made a long speech in the usual slanderous manner and assured the group that, at the forthcoming meeting, "Mr. Sachs would have to hand over the keys of the office of the union to him." The workers present were apparently not impressed with Mr. Grobbelaar's diatribes and, the following day, they came to the office of the union to give a full account of what he had said. In due course, I instituted an action for defamation against him in the Witwatersrand Local Division of the Supreme Court. Grobbelaar took exception to my Declaration and I to his Plea. The matter was heard on the 28th August 1939. Grobbelaar's exceptions were dismissed and mine were upheld and he was ordered to pay the costs of both. The case was set down for hearing, but in September 1939, when war broke out, Grobbelaar joined the army and disappeared from the scene.
In 1939, the Nationalist disrupters, under the leadership of the Reformers, for a time transferred their activities to Port Elizabeth. In this important industrial centre, where the union had formed a branch a year previously, nine paid agents started their activities. With the support of several local ministers of the Dutch Reformed Churches, they called a meeting of garment workers and began their crusade to save the souls of the Afrikaner garment workers.
There were over 800 garment workers in Port Elizabeth in 1939, of whom about half were non-European. Among the Europeans, the fascist agitators managed to subvert about thirty and, on several occasions when I went there to address factory meetings, I was greeted by small groups of workers with shouts of "Heil Hitler"! One of the leaders of the disrupters was a certain Mrs. Bekker, who had been a garment worker in Potchefstroom for some time and then came to Johannesburg. There the union found her a job at more than double the pay she had earned previously. During 1934 and 1935, she co-operated wholeheartedly with the union in helping to organise the garment workers of Potchefstroom and to improve their conditions. She was even elected vice-president of the union, but later it was discovered that she was a Black shirt Agent and her membership were suspended. Mrs. Bekker accompanied the "Crusaders" to Port Elizabeth and made a speech of the usual type. Die oorstelig, organ of the Nationalist Party in the Eastern Province, reported her speech at some length and I issued a summons against the paper for defamation. Die Oosterlig paid me 250 damages and costs and published apologies in leading newspapers throughout South Africa. I thereupon withdrew the action. Another official of the union instituted an action for tion against Mrs. Bekker and obtained judgment for over but as Mrs. Bekker had no means, the judgment could not be enforced .