Document 25 - E. R. Roux, The New Slogan and the Revolutionary Movement among White Workers in South Africa, presented at the Sixth

From: South Africa's Radical Tradition, a documentary history, Volume One 1907 - 1950, by Allison Drew

Document 25 - E. R. Roux, The New Slogan and the Revolutionary Movement among White Workers in South Africa, presented at the Sixth

When we talk about "colour prejudice" as a factor in the South African situation we are accused of a departure from Marxism. We are told that it is necessary to point always to the economic basis of colour prejudice in the economic exploitation of the natives. This we have endeavoured to do. Nevertheless, there is a certain residue of colour prejudice which it is very difficult to explain away, - and it certainly cannot be ignored The international Socialist movement among white workers often seems genuine enough apart from the "native question". The ease with which white South Africa succeeds in ignoring the natives as human beings is reflected also in the white labour movement. The following brief account of the revolutionary history of the white labour movement in South Africa is given in order to show that this movement cannot be ignored as a factor in the struggle against imperialism.

In 1913 a strike of white miners on the Witwatersrand exhibited the typical features of a workers' strike. A mass demonstration of strikers was dispersed by mounted police armed with pickhandles. Following this the strikers attacked and burnt the building of the "Star", the leading newspaper of the mine-owners. They also burnt the Johannesburg station. The government employed a British dragoon regiment to "clear the streets": about 30 workers were killed and hundreds wounded. Six months later, in January 1914, another strike broke out. The Government arrested the miners' leaders and deported them to England. These events stirred the labour movement throughout the world. In London the deportees were welcomed by the largest workers' demonstration that ever had been seen in Britain either before or since.

In 1922 occurred the historical "Red Revolt" or "Rand Uprising". The main facts about his episode should already be known to all. This strike of white miners once more exhibited features of a genuine working class revolt. There were mass demonstrations of strikers, and clashes with the police and military. Workers defence organisations or "commandos" were formed. The strike culminated in a partial general strike and an armed uprising. Police stations were captured and barricades erected in the streets.

Detachments of troops were ambushed in some areas. A white working class suburb in Johannesburg, which had fallen completely into the hands of the strikers, was bombed by Government aeroplanes; and as this failed to dislodge the workers' forces, it was bombarded by artillery.

The revolt was brutally suppressed and a number of summary executions were carried out by the military. Thousands of workers were flung into gaol and general white terror prevailed. During this period the Labour Party leaders shamelessly deserted the workers. It was left to the Communist Party to organise a strike prisoners' release committee and to conduct a campaign against the impending executions. Rising mass pressure eventually compelled the government to stay its hand, but not before four of the strikers had been hanged. How long, Hull and Jewis went to their death on the gallows with the words of the "Red Flag" on their lips is known to all.10

In order to demonstrate that white workers in South Africa may show considerable solidarity with proletarian movements abroad, I wish to draw attention to the aid given by the white workers to the British coalminers. When the General Strike broke out in Britain there was much enthusiasm in Johannesburg." A large public meeting called by the T.U.C. passed resolutions of support for the British workers and large sums of money were donated. During the coal lockout the white unions continued to forward money to Britain. A single street collection in Johannesburg for the British miners' wives and children produced over £300. The local committee that organised this collection consisted of representatives of the SALP, the CP and the white trade unions.

Most of the collectors were members of the "Women's Auxiliary" of the Labour Party and they displayed great enthusiasm. If workers throughout the world had supported the British miners financially to the extent that the white workers in Johannesburg did, the result of the lockout might have been very different.

Now these same white workers who have given these examples of anti-capitalist activity and international solidarity (and I submit that their revolutionary achievements and this revolutionary tradition cannot lightly be set on one side) - these workers exhibit racial feeling against the natives. The South African Communist Party believes that it is possible to play upon this revolutionary tradition in many ways in order to secure unity between white and native workers. Our tactic in approaching the white workers has been to appeal to them AS WORKERS, to refer to their struggle against the capitalist class, to stress the need for unity with the native workers in the class struggle, to appeal to them as trade unionists not to scab on their native fellow workers, and so on and so forth according to the particular demands of the situation.

It is because we have become so accustomed to this particular line of approach to the class struggle in South Africa, because the unity of black and white workers is so necessary there, that the slogan of the ECCI comes as such a shock to us. It means a reversal of the whole of our previous policy. The various strikes and uprisings of the white workers have been conducted under the slogan of a "white South Africa", i.e., for the maintenance of a European standard of living for white workers, and a struggle against the efforts of employers to reduce white wages nearer to the native level. Against this slogan our Party raises the cry: "Not a White South Africa, but Africa for the workers, black and white." The resolution of the ECCI now means that we must inscribe upon our banner "Not a White South Africa, but a Black South Africa". This is mere perversity, not dialectical materialism.