Comintern Congress, 30 July 1928

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.