{"id":941,"date":"2019-12-05T12:13:07","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T10:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marxistworkersparty.org.za\/?page_id=941"},"modified":"2020-04-23T11:41:01","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T09:41:01","slug":"ten-years-ago-the-durban-strikes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?page_id=941","title":{"rendered":"Ten Years Ago: The Durban Strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally published in Inqaba Ya Basebenzi No. 9 (February-April 1983)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by D. H.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dispute of the 2,000 African migrant workers at\nCoronation Brick & Tile Co., outside Durban with their employers in January\n1973 was over pay.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As events turned out, their action marked the beginning\nof the Durban strikes \u2013 the biggest post-war explosion of industrial struggle\nin SA up to that time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coronation\nworkers demanded that their minimum wage of R8.97 per week (which had not been\nraised for five years) be increased to R20. The cost of subsistence for the\naverage African family in Durban was R78 per month at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Management\nresponded by blaming “Communist agitators” and threatening the\n“ringleaders” with punishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strike began\non 9 January and was ended after two days by no less a person than the Zulu King\nGoodwill Zwelethini. A week later management pressurised the workers into accepting\na R2.07 increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But by this time\nstrikes had begun to spread, first to other factories in Durban, then to other\nparts of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outstanding were\nthe struggles of the workers employed by the textile millionaire, Frame. Some\nof them were earning only R5 per week. At the end of January, every single\nFrame factory was at a standstill, with 8,000 workers on strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the\nHammarsdale industrial area the strike became general, involving 7,000 workers\nfrom twelve industries. Also in the forefront were Durban’s municipal workers:\n16,000 laid down their tools, including many Indian workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of\nMarch there had been at least 160 strikes, involving over 61,000 workers, in\nevery sector of industry. Because of the mass nature of the movement, the\nbosses in most cases were forced to make concessions. This, in turn, encouraged\nmore workers to join in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image appearing in Inqaba No. 9<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What were the\nreasons for the eruption of large-scale industrial struggle at this time?\nAnswering this question will help us to understand more clearly what is\ninvolved in building the workers’ movement today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Objectively, in\nSA as elsewhere, the post-war capitalist boom had been financed increasingly by\ninflationary credit and state spending. Production was being expanded beyond\nthe limits that the capitalist system \u2013 hemmed-in by private property and the\nnation-state \u2013 could sustain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Worldwide Recession<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With profitable markets being flooded and rates of profit falling, capitalism was heading for the first worldwide recession since World War Two, that would open up a whole period of crisis and decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the general\nproblems of society do not immediately confront the working class in their\nentirety; they appear first of all as a series of specific unconnected\nproblems. For the workers in Durban and elsewhere, the deepening contradictions\nof the capitalist economy were expressed first and foremost in rapidly rising\nprices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For workers\nearning starvation wages, without the democratic right of free collective\nbargaining, this left no choice except struggle to defend their very existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time\nthe African working class had been enormously strengthened by the massive\ngrowth of industry during the 1960s. The despair that had followed the crushing\ndefeats of the Sharpeville period had worn-off. A younger, more militant\ngeneration had taken their place in the factories, docks and mines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Significant\nstrikes by black workers, notably the Durban dock strike of 1969, had already\nbegun to reflect the changing mood. The\nDurban strikes, however, brought a fresh, militant proletariat onto the\nnational scene as a mass force struggling independently for its own demands.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This historic\nclass movement, therefore, was based on the concrete problems faced by large\nnumbers of workers, in the context of a changing political climate; and it\nushered in a new period of industrial and political turmoil affecting every\nlayer in society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bosses and\nthe state were shaken and pushed on the defensive. As Graaff, the then leader\nof the white parliamentary opposition, put it: “I think we all realise\nthat a new era in industrial relations in SA has been rung in as a result of\nwhat has happened.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The employers\nwere compelled to concede wage increases. Before 1973, increases for African\nworkers averaged less than 10% – i.e., less than the rate of inflation. But\nsuch was the impact of the workers’ struggles that the average increase for\n1973 was 18%; for 1974, 22%; and for 1975, 21%. (At the same time, inflation\nhas forced the workers to continue the struggle for a living wage.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These wage gains\nare all the more impressive when we recall that trade union organisation was\nalmost non-existent among African workers at the time, and all strikes were\nillegal. The strikes were ‘organised’ by the workers’ spontaneous class consciousness\nand independent underground activity; all the gains were won through the\nworkers’ own courage and initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the face of\nthis wave of class struggle, even the state retreated. No\n“ringleaders” were arrested. Instead the law was amended to\n‘legalise’ strikes by African workers under restrictive conditions similar to\nthose faced by other workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the great and lasting significance of the Durban\nstrikes has lain in the new confidence it gave black workers in their ability\nto struggle and, in this climate, the rapid growth of trade union organisation\namong the mass of workers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From only a few\nthousand in 1972, African trade union membership rose to some 40,000 by July\n1974 and 60,000 by August 1975. While only a small part of the total African\nworkforce, this represented a giant step forward out of the terrible repression\nof the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has created a\nbasis for later waves of struggle and the further growth of the independent\ntrade unions, which will form the key to the mass organisation of the working\nclass in the coming period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The struggles of\nthe workers have given encouragement and a clearer sense of direction to other\nsections of the black oppressed. In 1976, there followed the magnificent\nupsurge of the black youth, who quickly sought ways of linking up with the\nworkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the late\n1970s, industrial struggles were becoming a focus for students, community\norganisations and even shopkeepers to support (as at Eveready, Rowntree, etc.).\nThis has provided a foretaste of future revolutionary upheavals, when the mass\norganisations of the black working class, led by the workers’ ANC, will head\nall the oppressed in battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many other\naspects of the struggles that face us were foreshadowed by the Durban strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crucial to the\nsuccess of the strikes was the skilful combination of mass and underground\norganisation. Correctly distrusting the bosses and the authorities, workers\nused their own mass meetings to negotiate with employers. Workers’ leaders only\nstepped to the fore when it was considered safe for them to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the\nstrike movement was highly democratic, with the leadership under the direct\ncontrol of the workers, and all important issues decided by mass meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These same\nmethods enabled the workers to carry out their decisions in a disciplined way\nand bring their collective ingenuity to bear on the problems they came up\nagainst. For instance, a system of ‘flying pickets’ was developed by municipal\nand building workers to involve workers who were scattered over many sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unity in action\nwas created between African and Indian workers, despite occasions of past\nconflict. Remarkable also was the effect of the mass class movement on white\nworkers. According to a survey, 60% of white manual workers blamed the bosses\nfor the strikes, and almost 90% believed that African wages were too low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Durban\nstrikes showed that the class movement of the workers can only be based on\ntheir own understanding and experience. Workers will organise and fight to\nsolve their commonly-felt problems, provided they can see some prospect of\nsuccess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only out of the\nconfidence and the organisation built on these foundations will come the power\nto struggle for the workers’ fundamental aims \u2013 an end to exploitation and\nracial oppression, and a free, democratic SA ruled by the working people\nthemselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussing and learning the lessons of the Durban workers’ struggles as a guide to future action is the best way to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 Transcribed from the original by the Marxist Workers Party (2019).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue to Part Two<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published in Inqaba Ya Basebenzi No. 9 (February-April 1983) by D. H. The dispute of the 2,000 African migrant workers at Coronation Brick & […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":932,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-941","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"_hostinger_reach_plugin_has_subscription_block":false,"_hostinger_reach_plugin_is_elementor":false,"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1279,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/941\/revisions\/1279"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}