28 December 1921

The strike, which culminated in the Rand Revolt, begins

 

The name Rand Revolt refers to the gold-mining region called the Witwatersrand, or the Rand, surrounding Johannesburg. In 1922 white trade union workers organized a general strike protesting gold-mining companies policy of hiring black workers to replace white workers. Traditionally many jobs in the South African mines had been reserved for whites only. In 1921 however, as the price of gold fell, leaders of the mining industry decided that one way to maintain profits was to cut costs by reducing the number of whites employed in the mines, replacing them with cheap black labor.

The trade unions found an unlikely ally in the newly founded Communist Party of South Africa (later renamed the South African Communist Party). The Communist Party became involved, even though it disagreed with the discriminatory goals of white unions, because it hoped to encourage revolutionary change among the workers. This unusual alliance resulted in mine workers, many of whom would not otherwise have sympathized with the Communist Party, marching under the Communist flag.

By March of 1922 the strike turned into an open rebellion against the state as workers took over the cities of Benoni and Brakpan, and the Johannesburg suburbs of Fordsburg and Jeppe. In response Prime Minister Jan Christiaan Smuts declared martial law, and government forces subdued the strikers by force.  At least 200 people were killed in the violence. Once the revolt had been crushed, the Chamber of Mines went forward with its policy of hiring more blacks.

The impact of these events affected the country’s 1924 elections. White workers turned against Smuts and his South African Party (SAP). As a result the Labour Party formed an alliance with the upstart Nationalist Party. They succeeded in defeating the SAP in the 1924 elections and formed what became known as the “pact government.”

The new government was thus committed to the protection of white workers and the exclusion of blacks from managerial positions. In 1925 South Africa’s legislature passed the Mines and Workers Amendment Act, a milestone piece of legislation that solidified the supremacy of white workers’ interests in the vital mining industry.

References

1. Drew, Allison (2001), South African politics, Workers Struggles [online], available at: users.york.ac.uk [accessed 18 December 2009]
2. O’Meara, P; Winchester, B.N. (date unkown) “Rand Revolt” from Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. [online], available at: encarta.msn.com [accessed 18 December 2009]