Constitution history

The rise of nationalism

The Union of South Africa also meant economic cohesion between previously separate and competing economies, affording the British-owned mines greater access to cheaper labour and the ability to transport their goods to harbours for international export. As a result, constitutional and legislative development focused on the restriction of social interaction, and limited the access of African people to skills and the market to such an extent that they became no more than cheap labour. Along with industrialization and the development of the economy came urbanization, greater segregationist laws, and a growing militancy among workers.

This economic boom was soon threatened by a post-war economic crisis, which resulted in great social upheaval. An example of this crisis was the drop in the price of gold from 130 shillings an ounce in 1919 to 95 shillings in 1921. To maintain profitability, the Chamber of Mines decided to reduce its white work force by employing semi-skilled black workers at lower rates of pay, inadvertently fostering conflict between black and white workers.

Politically, the formation of the Union of South Africa made possible the development of nationalism among white and black people alike. The previously separate African tribes were presented with a common authority that sought to disenfranchise them; in other words, they now had one enemy. The Union's new dispensation also paved the way for an economy that was increasingly dependent on a common working class. As a result, this period also saw the rise of the South African Communist Party (SACP), which already had a growing base amongst the white working class. In December 1928 the SACP formulated a new rallying call: A South African Native Republic as a stage towards a workers' and peasants' government with full protection and equal rights for all national minorities'.

Pop-up box for 'A South African Native Republic'

The 'Native Republic' thesis was developed after the Communist International discussed the situation in South Africa at its sixth congress. The concept was developed further by the South African Communist Party. Click here to see a copy of the annual report of the party dated 31 January 1929, dealing with the 'Native Republic' thesis. Its programme issued on 1 January 1929 clearly reflects how the adoption of this thesis translated into actual demands. To access a copy of this document, click here.

This was the seed for the concept of majority rule in South Africa, and it provided a basis for the theoretical development of the African nationalism that would develop in the following years. It was based on the following argument:

The overwhelming majority of the population is made up of Negroes and coloured people (about 5 500 000 Negroes and coloured people and about 1 500 000 white people according to the 1921 census). A characteristic feature of the colonial type of the country is the almost complete landlessness of the Negro population: the Negroes hold only one-eighth of the land whilst seven-eighths have been expropriated by the white population. There is no Negro bourgeoisie as a class, apart from individual Negroes engaged in trading and a thin strata of Negro intellectuals who do not play any essential role in the economic and political life of the country The Negroes constitute also the majority of the working class: among the workers employed in industry and transport, 420 000 are black and coloured people and 145 000 white; among agricultural labourers 435 000 are black and 50 000 are white. (Extract from a resolution on 'The South Africa Question' adopted by the executive committee of the Communist International following the Sixth Comintern Congress)

The social transformation brought about by the replacement of expensive white, particularly Afrikaner labour with cheaper black labour saw the development of a growing number of poor whites. White people demanded further segregation and job reservation laws, and these demands in turn encouraged the development of Afrikaner nationalism. At the same time, the development of an urban African working class allowed for greater unity.

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