South Africa - double the figure for 1983. strikes were boy already reported all of the reported black workers, focussing mainly on the issue of wages in the face of a rapidly rising cost of living. These strikes have often arisen almost spontanety in degeat. But they aried clear and ended quickly indication of the growing mood of resistance amongst South Africa's black working class.
1984 was a year of declining fortunes for the South African economy after a period in which the worldwide crisis had made relatively little
By HARRY SLOAN impact. With a huge balance of payments deficit, the value of the rand falling against the dollar from $1.30 to $0.60 by November, the country still dogged by the runaway costs of the war in Namibia, and heavily dependent upon manufac tured imports, it could only be a mat ter of time before the world crisis began to bite in the form of inflation (now over 12%) and intensified competition.
There have been major moves to restructure South Africa's car inaustry anothe engineering industry 70.000 redlendanines while a output whole, upwards has actually increased. In addition the lengthy drought has had a severe impact on the agricultural sector, with many farmworkers, particularly in the rural Bantustan areas, facing starvation. The sacking of thousands of factory workers - sent back to the Socialist Viewpoint, No. 4, March 1985. Page 17
barren "homelands" with nothing, while food prices have risen - has only compounded the problem
1984 began with a wave of strikes in the chemical and car industries and also saw a significant "first" - the development of coordinated strike action at 3 different plants of the same employer Autoplastics as workers adopted more sophisticated tactics in the fight for higher wages. A similar indication of the growing confidence of the black workers movement was the celebration of May Day 1984 followed by a wave of disputes over pay in the metal industry
The development of the black trade unions has not been without problems, however, and the early summer of 1984 also saw a damaging split in MAWU, the engineering union af filiated to the largest of the black union confederations, FOSATU.
This same period also saw the start of some big school boycotts, demanding recognition of school students'
representauve counciis, abolition of corporal punishment and lifting age limits for school education. These boycotts were to be resumed and intensified later in the year, linking in
grievances and with other
Tand mobilising as many as paigns, 650,000 school youth.
August saw strike action by hotel workers a succession of struggles in Johannesburg, confirmed the scope and the militan- by cy of opposition to the government's new Constitution.
The August elections of parliamen Coloreds had been the subject of a representatives tor Indians sustained boycott campaign, which in turn produced a mushrooming growth of the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front (UDF) smaller, more hard-line Forum (NF). While both organisations agreed in campaigning for boycott, the UDF very represents the type of cross-class "popular front" line that has become the hallmark of the banned African National Congress and the African Communist Party. Its orientation has not been so muct black working class - though it has been able to rally working class support for its initiatives black middle classes, and the churches. Despite this, UDF's ability to make period running up to the elections for mass rallies, demonstrations and protests undoubtedly played a role in radicalising the working class and strengthening the boycott in August, which was massively successful.
Weakness
The chief organisational weakness of the UDF flows from its cross-class political line: it has only weak links with the black trade unions and working class movement. Though unions issued their own statements and held boycott, the demonstrations and protests were in the main organised by the UDF - showing that it now has
support to mobilise therefore saw radicalisation of opposition new Constitution merge with the first community struggles against steep rises in rents and electricity charges. townships around Johannesburg dur-
September, and were met by rapidly escalating state repression. At least 100 were killed and over 1,000 arrested
The failure of these heavy handed tactics to crush the militancy of the black working class was confirmed by a spontaneous "stay-away" movement which erupted in tour townships in took over a meeting protesting at rent general strike Next di the cat toned
general strike. Next day they turned workers back from buses and trains to
cam- followed which workers stayed away. and the National sion, this success spurred on renewed school boycotts and a rent boycott. the When defuse the confrontation, temporarily much withdrew the rent increases, militants began to press the demand for a cut in rents, a release of those South detained and Students Representative Councils. towards the Miners strike as to the September white liberals the without any link with the unions was markedly less successful than that in use of the the Vaal. That same day saw the first- ever legal strike in tional Union of Miners. dispute, amid savage police repres- sion, ten miners were killed and hun- By October, becoming increasingly quell the tide of resistance. New tac- tics were adopted, and on October 23 police operations were supplemented of Sebokeng, township Triangle, by more than 7,000 troops. Every one later police backed by an undisclos into brutal movement. more successful than previous tac And that same tics. victory. the biggest
unions million, (over the Despite ed: indeed Despite a further wave of repres action. authorities, seeking to victimisations, some management, the recognition of 17 called by the UDF South Africa's declaring at a the was regime anxious to by a full-scale army invasion of the in the Vaal of Sebokeng's 25,000 houses was searched. Ihree weeks ed number of troops moved in force the 250,000-strong township of Tembisa and embarked on a wave of searches and arrests. These raids stopped short of a tull-scale sweep" of militants: rather they were an attempt at intimidating the mass The Sebokeng repression was no month had witnessed another important develop- ment - Dunlop workers had not only maintained a solid strike for a month, but had won their demands in a major In the first week of November came generalised stoppage since the 1950s, jointly called by students' organisations and the trade unions in Transvaal. A joint meeting of students and union officials had seen student demands supplemented by calls for the army and police to be withdrawn from the townships; for an the rent increases and to Socialist Viewpoint, No. 4, March 1985. Page 18
redundancies; and for the reinstate-
ment of sacked workers.
Unlike previous more or less spontaneous stay-away movements, Transvaal action was called with ten days' notice as a 2-day strike, with
actively involved from the outset. Half a million leaflets were distributed. Estimates of the level of support range from 300,000 to 1
with the stoppage strongest 95%) in the industrial East Rand area, with over 90% supporting
Faction Sebokeng Strongly unionised plants were 100% solid.
massive state repression (the official death toll was well over 20) the movement could not be crush-
there were tew subsequent reprisals by management who had underestimated the scope of the
Only in the state-owned • SASOL plant were there extensive
with 90% of the 6,500 workforce sacked.
Police were not so restrained as stayaway was followed by a wave of detentions beginning with virtually the whole Transvaal stayaway committee and then other black leaders.
So sweeping were the arrests that even some South African employers' associations = the Federated Chamber of Industries, and the Afrikaans Handelsinstitut felt moved to issue a joint statement precipitous step arrests to be a
"The private sector is deeply
concerned about the detention
of certain trade union leaders
"sensitive time like the President of FOSATU, Chris Dhlam-
Cof the Council Unions of South Africa, Phirosaw Camay; Moses Mayekiso MAWU in the Transvaal; Kate Philip resident of the National Union o South Atrican Students (NUSAS) anc Many of those detained were releases. (some charged however with subver-
signficantly charges have been aimed not just at UDF political activists but also at a ‹ey leader of MAWU
While British news coverage of
South Africa towards the end of the year was dominated by reports on the occupation of bf Beaders he biF Durban by UDF leaders, the itself did little to build mass support for the fugitives beyond itself. Two of them now face trial on charges of sedition. Since the New Year the repression has with a total of 16 leading anti-apartheid and trade union now facing treason charges later this month. It seems that the apartheid regime is determined to mount a major show-trial or series of show trials in a new bid to intimidate opponents.
Meanwhile the repression in townships has continued, linked with a renewed state offensive against the illegal "Crossroads" squatter camp near Cape Town, where 65,000 black families have lived for years in defiance of apartheid laws Dozens of youth were injured and at least nine
illed in fighting to prevent police moving into Crossroads last month
With the baton of repression always in evidence, however, the regime has also been sounding out the possibility of using a carrot of class collaboration to lure leaders of the banned ANC into talks.
Mandela
Possibly encouraged by the way in which deals struck with the regimes of Angola and Mozambique have weakened the ANC's ability to bring in guerrilla forces from their training camps and sustain a military cam-
Mandela, widespread poltical influence as Durban courageous martyr continued, to accept seen activists paign Iocus tor opposition to apartheid its the guerrilla ly radical positions, seeking liberals, white classes and church dignitaries. With the unions Botha strength in key strategic industries demands and movement and link the many black, Indian and Coloured popula tions with the gramme needed to solve the pro- blems of the working Stalinist-influenced utopian Socialist Viewpoint, No. 4, March 1985. Page 19
7,000 South African Troops invade the township of Sebokeng. paign, the regime has made two oi- is a ters in recent months to release jailed ANC leader Nelson Mandela - if he and the ANC will repudiate violence. that his recognising apartheid filiated to would collapse instantly if he were such deal, understandably rejected these blan- dishments: indeed the ANC is now talking of a resumed military cam- affiliating. - trading on their massive popular support as the traditiona But in today's South Africa, where the predominant struggle is between a vast black working class and a white racist bourgeoisie, a tactic of armed struggle is by no means either appropriate or even particular — particularly if coupled to ANC's popular front political alliances with the black middle the still growing despite the recession, and gathering the key question is the devlopment ot a political leadership that can unite the black trade union and varied democratic demands of the anti-capitalist pro- The class. utopian illusions of a democratic with its mer's "stage" in the South African revolu- tion, can offer no such perspective. It
movement in which more politically radical rank and file runs increasingly into conflict with a conservative old guard leadership.
As for the UDF, its weakness lies in the shallow roots of many of its 600 af-
organisations in the day to day mass movement, and its lack of links with the unions - some of which actually cite the UDE's alliances with white liberals and coloured and Indian businesman as reasons for not
However, the very rapid growth of the UDF, its role as a centre of attraction for wide, militant forces of youth and workers prepared to fight the regime, mean that in some important areas it is not an ossified or tightly controlled organisation. It can serve under these conditions as a forum for discusion on the next steps in the struggles of the working class - and the affiliation of trade union organisations can serve further to marginalise
conservative influence of the socialists in Britain elsewhere, the task of mobilising full solidarity with the UDF and trade union defendants in the coming show trials is extremely urgent. We must demand the unconditional release of these prisoners of apartheid, and of the longest-serving political prisoner of them all — Nelson Mandela. The feeling against the South African regime that was shown in last sum-
mobilisation against Botha's visit to Britain must be developed into a serious solidarity movement in the British labour movement.
Powell Bill aimed against women THE true meaning and aims of the Unborn Child (Protection) Bill were summed up by Powell himself when he introduced the Bill in the House of Commons. He said it ws about the "sanctity of man". I don't intend to spend this article discussing the sexism of the English language; and I know many socialists (supported, in tend ase, use or Pomall, wold dewomen; but Enoch