Worker consciousness in black miners

Southern Rhodesia, 1900–1920

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8978554
AutoresCharles Van Onselen (0000-0002-3903-8052, University of Oxford, autor de correspondencia)
Año1973
Volumen14
Número2
Páginas237-255
Fecha de publicación1973-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of African History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0021853700012548
OpenAlexW2111145772
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas46
Referencias citadas17

It has become accepted by historians and social scientists alike that African workers in Rhodesia were slow to demonstrate resistance in the industrial setting of the economy. This tardiness is attributed to the dominance of the migrant labour system or the achievements of the settler administration. This view is challenged by a detailed study of African responses in the mining industry. Here geological factors led to profitability constraints which led to extensive exploitation of African labour. This in turn manifested itself in the appalling conditions in the mine compounds. In these circumstances, the choice of employer was of vital importance to Africans, and they developed a rapid and efficient system of market intelligence about employment prospects throughout southern Africa. African worker consciousness was evident in patterns of avoidance of, selective participation in, and desertion from, mines. In addition, worker consciousness and resistance manifested themselves in day-to-day work situations, and in strike action. All of these activities suggest a well-developed worker consciousness which pre-dates the more familiar organizations of the 1920s such as the Dance Societies, the Watch Tower Society and the I.C.U. These patterns further suggest that worker strategy in Rhodesia can best be understood within the context of the functioning of a regional economic system embracing all of southern Africa

Consciousness · Context (archaeology · Development economics · Dominance (genetics · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · History · Psychology · South African History and Culture