Hammer and Sickle A Distant Clap of Thunder Book issued to mark the Fortieth Anniversary of the 1946 Mine Strike <http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=4727> A Salute by the South African Communist Party to South Africa's Black Mine Workers Published by the South African Communist Party, 1986 Part 5 Commission fails. Forces gather. The Commission took a year to digest all its evidence. It could scarcely be expected that any inquiry by such white establishment figures as these would find in favour of the 'fantastic', 'irresponsible' and 'revolutionary' demand for ten shillings per day. But it was impossible for the Commission not to find that improvements were imperative. Its report, when finally issued, conceded much criticism of the industry, but little substance for the miners: - That surface workers be paid an extra four pence per shift, and underground workers five pence; - That a 'boot allowance' of one penny per shift be paid; - That Sunday working and overtime working be paid at one-and-a-half times the normal rate; - That long term workers get two weeks paid holiday per year; - That rations and catering services be improved. The mountain had heaved and produced a mouse; even that mouse proved too much for the combined stomachs of Chamber and government. While government dithered and delayed its decisions, the union carried on with mass meetings of miners, telling them of the concessions already proposed by the Commission, and organising them to carry the campaign for a minimum wage still further. Late in 1944, the government made its decision. The recommendations of the Lansdowne Commission would not be implemented. In place of the recommended improvements, only a small wage increase 'in lieu of all other recommendations' would be introduced, giving the princely rise of four pence per shift for surface workers and five pence for underground. The bitterness on the mines grew worse. The Commission had found that the industry was able to pay the full costs of the improvements it had recommended; yet the government chose to pass the full costs of its own decisions on to the tax payer through a refund of a tax known as the Gold Realisation Charge. The miners had reached a watershed. There was no further way forward through any process of conciliation, argument, debate or bargaining. From here on, clearly, they would have to go forward using the withdrawal of their labour as their weapon - or they would go under. It was in this mood that the annual Conference of the African Mine Workers' Union met in August 1944. There were 700 delegates from the mines; 300 other miners without delegate credentials 'observing'; and a large turn-out of political leaders and trade unionists from other industries, plus the President General of the ANC, members of the Natives Representative Council, and chiefs from several areas from which miners were recruited. Delegates demanded strike action; the union leaders advised caution, and time to seek once again to meet the Chamber of Mines for discussions, while delegates returned to the mines and spread the union organisation further in preparation for whatever lay ahead. The union leadership carried the day - but the miners remained angry and rebellious, and sporadic clashes and disturbances began all along the Reef. On their part, the Chamber and the government acted in concert to try and destroy the Union; whether this was an agreed conspiracy or simply an identity of views is not clear. The Chamber declared the mining areas no-go areas for the Union, and advised compound managers that no union organising whatsoever was to be allowed on mining property, either during working hours or when the men were off duty; meetings were to be totally prohibited regardless of the size, and union activists singled out and repatriated regardless of any uncompleted contracts. For its part, the government stepped in with a new War Measure, promulgated under special war emergency powers - Measure 1425 of August 1944 - which banned any gathering of any sort by more than twenty people anywhere along the 'proclaimed' mining area of the Witwatersrand. From: http://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?ID=2626 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
