The story of the Garment Workers' Union of South Africa epitomizes the history of South Africa itself during the last thirty years, the period of its Industrial Revolution.
Every major national problem-racial conflict, poor whiteism, and mass poverty-played a prominent part in the life and activities of the union. The epic story of the hundred thousand women and thirty thousand men who built the clothing industry, the third largest in the country, reflects the aspirations, passions and violent conflicts of the people as a whole, their economic progress and political backwardness, then- nobility and savagery, their love of freedom and acceptance of tyranny.
Most white South Africans bitterly resent the opinions about then - country held by people abroad and complain that strangers do not know and cannot understand the difficulties of their multi-racial society. All honest and clear-thinking South Africans will admit with sorrow that their land is tormented by race hatred and that, since May, 1948, when the Nationalist Government came to power, this hatred has been intensified to a frightening extent Other countries have had racial problems, and many still have them today. In the United States race discrimination features prominently in national affairs, and Europe is not altogether free from it. Even in Asia, which has suffered from racial oppression and discrimination for so long, inter-racial strife is still common despite the immense progress the Asian people have made in recent years. All over the world millions are still subjected to indignities, persecution and oppression solely because of their racial origin or the colour of their skin. But, while in other countries racial antagonism is only a small part of the national life, it is no exaggeration to say that in South Africa it is the national life and forms the basis of the economic, social, political and cultural structure of the country.
The tremendous economic and industrial progress which the country has made in recent years has so far received scant attention. Abroad, South Africa is known mainly as the land of racial oppression, and within the country, the people are too preoccupied with problems of colour to observe radical social changes.
In the last few decades, hundreds of thousands of Whites and million non-Whites have been uprooted from the land and moved into the cities to become workers in mining, industry, commerce, transportation and other spheres. Manufacturing industries expanded tremendously and the national income has increased about six times. At least one-third of the white people had their incomes raised from under £50 to over £500 a year, and about a million non-Europeans from a few pounds to more £150 a year. But this revolution has aroused little interest, and most white South Africans still get more emotional satisfaction from watching a black man being kicked off the pavement than from the rise of a large modern factory.
Industrial development has brought much prosperity but has not reduced peace. Fear stalks the land and everyone is anxious about future. Will the Nationalist government be removed from the power? Will South Africa ever relax or abandon its policy of racial oppression? Or will there be a struggle between Black and White can only mean disaster for both sides? The successive waves of oppression sweeping the country and the sterile, cowardly pursued by the United Party-the major opposition party- has created a spirit of despondency among the opponents of the Nationalists. They believe that the Nationalists will remain in power indefinitely, and that a clash between Europeans and non-Europeans table. The story of the Garment Workers' Union holds out some hope and inspires a measure of confidence in the future. In the world of the garment workers one sees clearly new forces and new ideas emerging in the country.
South Africans who want to see racial harmony and co-operation in their land will be able to study the methods used by the union to counteract the pernicious propaganda of race hatred. These methods were not always successful or beyond criticism: no doubt very much more could have been achieved, but at least they prove that it is possible to change people imbued with violent race prejudice into courageous fighters for freedom and tolerance.
The clothing industries was not of sufficient economic importance, nor were the workers strong enough, to effect a radical change in South African policy, and in the country's way of life. But the fought by the union against reaction and tyranny show how much can be achieved by determination and courage, and serve to indicate the methods that must be followed in the future if South Africa is to become a true democracy.
I want to see South Africa a great nation, admire and respected, not hated by all civilised people. I have therefore not followed the usual pattern of trade union histories, but have addressed this book mainly to the workers of South Africa, since they can play a decisive role in eradicating race hatred and-oppression and in building a country which will provide happiness, prosperity and security for everyone. These people are not interested in an academic treatise: they are bored by numerous statistical tables and are more likely to respond emotionally than intellectually to what I write. At the same time, I hope that by writing as a South African for South Africans I will be able to give people abroad a clearer idea of the country's problems.
Yes, I write with passion and emotion.
For twenty-five years I watched at close range the progress of South Africa's Industrial Revolution. I saw thousands of modern factories arise in the cities, on the bare veld of the Witwatersrand, around Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, and remoter parts. I saw the great change in the lives of the ordinary people with whom I came into daily contact. Poverty, squalor and misery were their former lot; now they enjoy fairly decent standards. But this is only the beginning, and I visualise a great future for the country. I also saw at close quarters the dreadful tragedy of race hatred, the sorrow and suffering of the hated, the degradation of those responsible for promoting it. When I reflect the glorious opportunities South Africa has of building a great industrial civilisaÂtion and see the road to inevitable ruin which the country is now following; when I think how happily the people could all live and work together, as I know is possible from my own experience, and find instead men's hearts filled with hatred and fear, I cannot remain calm and dispassionate.
A great fighter for freedom in America wrote:
I am aware that many object to the severity of my language, but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as Truth, and as uncompromising as Justice. On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen- but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest-I will not equivocate-I will not excuse- I will not retreat a single inch-and I will be heard. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal and hasten the resurrection of the dead.(William Lloyd Garrison, " The Liberator," 1st January, 1831.)
South Africans are an emotional and passionate people; how could they be otherwise with a hundred and fifty years of tragic conflicts behind them? But whereas the peddlers of race hatred have succeeded in exciting the base passions and emotions of the Whites, and more especially of the Afrikaners, I know that in the hearts of the Boer men and women there is a warm humanity and a deep love for freedom; for they themselves have suffered oppression and poverty. The task of all who love liberty is to arouse the fine feelings of the Afrikaners, many of who are in the forefront of the struggle for a free, tolerant South Africa. Never-theless the story, though written with feeling, is based on solid fact. I am writing in the calm, friendly atmosphere of Manchester University, which awarded me a Simon Senior Research Fellowship for 1954-6; but I played a leading role in the events I am describing. History must be written objectively we are told. Invariably, each historian decides for himself the meaning of objectivity. I decided however, not to allow modesty to distort the history of the Union and have projected myself somewhat liberally in the part of the book. The fault is not mine; it lies elsewhere. In the middle of the 'thirties, when the Nationalists had adopted Nazi philosophy, they began to employ Nazi techniques in dealing their opponents. In their desperate attempt to disrupt and capture the Mine Workers' Union and the Garment Workers' Union, both of which had a predominantly Afrikaner membership, they built up " bogey men" upon whom they concentrated their fire. Charlie Harris, Secretary of the Mine Workers' Union, and I, as secretary of the Garment Workers' Union, were selected as the main scapegoats. In the Nationalist press, in parliament, from the pulpits of the Dutch Reformed Churches, even at meetings of the Afrikaans Cultural Societies, we were vilified and slandered. In June 1939, Harris was shot dead by a young Nationalist fanatic. I escaped assassination, but suffered much physical violence at the hands of the Nationalists. By 1947, the Nationalists had succeeded in capturing the Mine Workers' Union; but our union proved an entirely different proposition. With the loyal support of the members, many of whom were Nationalists, I hit back and instituted twelve Supreme Court actions for defamation against Nationalist publications and Ministers of the Dutch Reformed Churches. I succeeded in obtaining substantial damages in each case, and my defamers had to pay over £20,000 in legal costs. Some actions were settled out of court, but those that went to trial aroused tremendous interest throughout the country. I received warm support not only from the workers, but also from all democratically minded people, and the successive victories, which I scored over the Nationalists served the interests of our union, of the trade union movement, and of democracy generally. These court actions played a major role in the life and struggles of the union; hence I record them at length. We also instituted many actions against Ministers of the Government who exceeded or abused their powers and there too each victory for the union or myself in the courts had great political significance.
The thousands of young garment workers who have entered the industry and found greatly improved conditions will learn, by reading this story, how they were obtained, and of the great sacrifices made by the pioneers whose energy and courage built the union. The older garment workers and all other workers of South Africa will realise that the Nationalists are their bitter enemy, and that cowardice and defeatism will bring disaster. Courage, determination and sacrifice will be necessary to replace the present philosophy of inhumanity by a spirit of human feeling and tolerance, which alone can save South Africa.